08 Jokers wild
by Kyeian
Summary: COMPLETE Lay your cards on the table and hope for the high hand. Dealer's choice wins, and with luck you won't be done in. Final call, and for those weak at heart; time to cash in your chips. This is the eighth and final story of "Chance or Circumstance".
1. One

**A/N:** Come one, come all, and welcome ~gestures grandly~ to the finale of Chance or Circumstance! Everyone grab your cards and set your chips, because this is 'last-call', and your last chance to bet high. Sit back, order a drink, and remember, the joker's wild and we're aiming for twenty-one. I do not own Gundam Wing or anything that looks like it might make money—though concepts of such things (like Pax) originated in my own little head.

**One**

Quatre's breath pounded in his chest as he ran down the cliff-side toward Sandrock. He didn't have much time before he was caught, and had to get inside the machine fast. He launched himself to the towrope as the MS chasing him topped the rise.

It was now or never.

He half climbed the cable as the machine pulled it in, and jumped at the end to land solidly on the newly opened hatch.

That wasn't right.

He didn't have time to think it through though, because he could feel the suit rocking with the force of the shots. In a moment, he was strapped in and powering up the machine. Only time would tell what years of being left without power would do to the AI. It wasn't the most pleasant prospect, really...

The machine almost seemed to sigh as the screens flickered on...and noted the difference in years fed to it by the satellite feeds.

It hesitated.

"Sandrock, we have problems," Quatre insisted. "We have to _go_."

Information flashed across the screens before he could read it, and Quatre groaned to himself. That couldn't be good. The machine rocked forward at a particularly well aimed shot... And Sandrock turned to face the menace.

Quatre gasped as the machine sliced with the first curved blade...and then the second. The machines he was facing weren't equipped to handle a full gundam, they could barely handle a normal suit.

Blood poured from the rents in the other machine, and Sandrock swung again...as the sound of a thousand screams echoed in Quatre's head.

Quatre jumped hard, slamming into the wall as he looked blankly through the darkness of the room. It was utterly black, except for the occasional flash of hour on the vid screen.

"Hey," Duo muttered without moving. "You okay?"

"'s a nightmare," Quatre explained. "Sandrock...I had to turn it on again, and it destroyed some tanks that couldn't handle it...they bled."

"That sounds pleasant," Duo noted, shifting to pull his lover close. "You gonna be okay?"

"Once my heart settles," he agreed. "Do..._you_ ever have dreams like that?"

"Huh?" Duo focused again. "Sometimes. Deathscythe didn't have that sort of AI. Blood, though. I have dreams with blood. I guess that's the price we pay for living, though...you know?"

Quatre sighed, agreeing internally with that assessment. He didn't fully appreciate that Duo had already fallen back asleep, but the dream had been mild compared to most. He shifted around, out of Duo's arms, and stared out the window at space.

He was amused, really, that they'd been kidnapped by Jaden Timorre, of all people, accidentally or otherwise. The man had been in a panic since, speaking with the pilots and officials by turn. At Matty's insistence, Heero had finally stepped in and vouched for the man, but it had been an amusing few hours.

It had finally been determined that the brigadier generals might be able to use the new situation, so now they were waiting for their suits to be delivered. Meanwhile, Timorre had finished attaching the weapons to his suits, and the fighting had started.

It galled Quatre that he would be useless in space fighting, and he figured that was how his dreams had switched around on him. This wasn't his first nightmare of turning on his machine. He'd had several, most disturbing of which had been the one of Duo moving to him for help and Sandrock striking.

To put it in less obscure terms, he hated not having any control of his life.

Quatre shook his head, rolling back to Duo. Dwelling would do no one any good. Least of all him.

* * *

"You look like hell."

Quatre turned to glower at Trowa, then realized the man wasn't speaking to him.

"I feel it," Matty agreed ruefully. "I didn't sleep so well last night."

"No?" Trowa asked. "Why not?"

"Heero had a dream or ten. It kept waking me up. Eventually, he thought it would be a good idea to talk. Unfortunately, he's very fixated on Jaden. It doesn't lead to restful sleep, you know?"

"I had a dream that Sandrock killed a tank," Quatre offered. "It bled, see. It was wonderful."

Both males grimaced.

"It didn't happen, but I could tell it was about to spazz out on me about how long it'd been without power."

"How does a machine spazz?" Matty asked skeptically.

"Violently," Quatre returned dryly.

"You okay?" Trowa muttered, moving properly into the room to sit.

"Coffee," Quatre returned, pouring his friends both cups. "I'm fine...you hungry?"

"A bit," Trowa admitted. "But Blake said he'd make waffles."

"Waffles sound good," Quatre admitted, dropping next to Trowa—they were in a small kitchen-room that Jaden had given over to them. He'd almost rescinded the order when he thought it might make him seem to be isolating them...but Trowa had stepped in and agreed it would be nice to have their own space.

"I'll make you some," Matty muttered, pushing himself up tiredly and moving to make his coffee. He sighed as he finished his own mix, then carried Trowa's cup over to him with the sugar and creamer.

"Thanks," Trowa muttered, staring at the cup.

"Aren't you just the cheery lot," Wufei muttered happily, bouncing into the room. He snatched the sugar and creamer from the table as Trowa tried to protest it, bouncing over to pour himself coffee. He paused in his stirring to dig something out of a cupboard. It was a long stick of something, and he sucked happily on the end as he went back to the coffee.

"I didn't get a chance to use that," Trowa informed him, stirring idly at his cup.

"Poor _baby!_" Wufei cried, spinning back to the other with the items. He studied Trowa a moment, then Quatre. "Okay," he said. "Who died?"

"Quatre and Heero had nightmares last night," Matty noted quietly.

"You sleeping with Heero and Matty now?" Wufei demanded of Trowa skeptically. "I knew you lot were psycho, but I didn't think Matty and Blake were _that_ good of friends."

Matty started laughing weakly, pouring the waffle mix into the waffle pan.

"I was having _the_ dreams again," Trowa noted dryly. "The amnesia-fun ones."

"Geeze, who died?" Jinli asked, moving to stop and look them all over. "Heero? Or Duo?"

Wufei flashed him a grin.

"You two finally decided to consummate your marriage?" Trowa retorted.

Jin laughed happily, bouncing to take the sugar and creamer so he could pour his own coffee. "Actually, there are some very nice young ladies on this ship—and somehow..."

"Matty, can you make us waffles?" Blake asked, moving into the room.

Trowa turned to look at him a moment, then offered his arms.

Blake moved to sit in his lap wordlessly.

Heero sighed as he moved into the room, looking them all over before smiling wanly at his espoused. He was sitting at the table in a moment, and the dour silence fell over them all.

Wufei and Jinli exchanged a glance, wondering what they'd missed the night before.

"Alright," Duo declared as he moved into the room—Matty turned briefly to look at him as he flipped another waffle onto a tray. "Obviously we are all in high spirits, which means we can go _win_ this war."

Heero turned to _look_ at his friend.

Duo made a gesture with his fist, looking them all over, then met eyes with Quatre. He considered his lover a long moment, then moved around to the coffee pot. "Who hasn't had their coffee yet?"

"Me," Trowa noted, starting to drink from his cup.

"Me," Blake agreed, raising a hand.

"Me," Heero also raised his hand...and so on.

"I got laid last night," Wufei raised his hand to look them all over. "I found a pretty girl who understood the espousal situation...and had hot wild sex for half the night before we both passed out."

Matty snorted.

"I...had hot wild sex for three quarters of the night?" Jin looked them all over curiously.

"Oh, bullshit," Wufei shot back. "You were not up longer than me."

"I was so," Jinli argued.

"You were not, no one in this room can stay up longer than me when it comes to sex—except maybe Matty."

Matty guffawed, turning to _look_ at him.

Wufei grinned, looking the rest of them over. They were all giving him _that_ look, though. The one they gave him when they decided he was full of shit.

"What is that look?" Jinli asked the room at large, blinking at him.

"I can't tell you what she did because she might walk in," Wufei explained, taking a longer drink from his cup before hopping up and moving over to help Matty.

"What?" Jinli asked, looking to Trowa.

"Wufei has this...little thing he likes to do. You've only seen him do it once or twice, but it's rare when we don't get a play-by-play of his nightly trysts."

"Nightly?" Jinli asked blankly.

"Wufei didn't spend too much time at home," Duo offered. "At least, on weekends he tended to be off and about."

Wufei grinned at his friend, then looked around at the others.

Duo sighed, stirring his cup as he moved to sit at the table and consider things. Finally, he met eyes with Quatre. "Did you wake up last night?"

"I had a nightmare," Quatre agreed with a sigh. "You asked me about it."

Duo made a face, sliding his chair closer. "I'm sorry. I should have woke up right."

"It's fine," Quatre reassured him quietly. "You did enough to ask and respond."

Duo nodded.

"We need to figure something out," Heero noted quietly. "Obviously things are complicated. What do we do about the messed up sleep?"

Since the question had been directed at him, Duo sighed and slid down in his chair as he ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not sure, actually."

"So let's focus on the other bit," Quatre suggested, leaning forward. "What, exactly, are we going to do here? Until your suits get here we have a handful of refurbished MS against...however many armed MS Gerrange managed to get."

"At this point we're between times," Trowa reminded them. "Jaden's obviously come after Gerrange himself...so will our stepping out there step on his toes entirely?"

"It doesn't matter," Heero reminded him. "With the suits, we can all make it to the nearest colony."

"Jaden's not like that," Matty muttered with a frown to his lover.

"And Qing wouldn't stand for it," Duo agreed.

"I more meant in terms of cooperation," Trowa added, looking them all over. "Obviously we're expected to go out and fight, he wouldn't have been so grateful for us to get our machines otherwise. I mean...if we go _after_ Gerrange, will it be stepping on toes?"

They exchanged looks.

"I think we need to cooperate," Quatre noted. "We're all working for the same ends here, though I'm not fully clear on Jaden's motives." He focused on Matty.

"I don't know," Matty admitted as he thought it over. "He just sort of joined us."

"He's not fucking us over," Quatre agreed, looking back to the others. "I know he's not fucking with us, but I'm not sure what his ends are."

"We'll have to ask him," Trowa decided, thinking about it. "And I think we should open a dialog on Gerrange, too."

"Timorre wouldn't cross me," Heero pointed out.

"No, Heero," Trowa agreed pointedly. "Jaden wouldn't cross us."

Heero looked away.

"I'm no happier about him being around than you are," Wufei noted seriously to the other pilot. "But you have to admit he's shown remorse, guilt, and every effort to correct the oversight."

"He didn't kidnap your lover and handcuff him to a bed," Heero pointed out, meeting Wufei's eyes. "He didn't sedate your husband. When Jin gets grabbed we can have this conversation," he glanced at the other Chinese man briefly. "But until then," he shrugged.

"Why are you here if you're not willing to move on?" Trowa asked seriously. "Why did you board Illicit?"

Heero considered him a long moment, then gestured at Matty.

Matty shook his head, not looking away from his work.

"So you can't show tolerance for his friendship?" Duo asked seriously.

"Quatre?" Heero asked without looking to the half-blond.

"Don't drag _me_ into this," Quatre protested.

"But what do you say when Duo's eye wanders?" Heero asked seriously.

"My eye didn't wander," Matty noted dryly.

"Not in a way I'm worried about you leaving me," Heero agreed, looking away from them all.

Matty sighed, dropping a platter of waffles unceremoniously onto the table and turning back to the machine.

"But the shit I say to Duo isn't...real," Quatre said quietly. "Sometimes I get jealous, but usually I'm just saying what you want to hear."

Heero looked away from them, crossing his arms.

"You would say something about cutting off appendages," Duo said quietly. "Or something like that."

"But it _still_ doesn't matter," Matty noted pointedly, "because I'm not _looking_ at Jaden."

"He's a rival for your attention," Duo explained.

"I'm confused," Matty noted, stopping to stare at the counter. "Aren't you _all?_"

"No," Duo said quietly. "We're all comrades and brothers. We might play around and tease you, but none of us are a threat to Heero."

Matty turned to stare at him with narrowed eyes.

"This is the most utterly basic level," Duo added seriously. "This has nothing to do with what you might or might not do."

"So should I tell the group of you that he's pissing me off?" Matty snapped. "I've tried talking to him about it and I don't get through. Should I tell you that his arbitrary refusal to hear me out is frustrating me to my breaking point?"

"Yes, actually," Wufei muttered, sobering as he considered the table.

"What do I do?" Heero demanded, looking around to Duo.

Matty stood there a long moment, staring at all of them, then set the spoon he'd been holding back into the mixing bowl and started from the room.

"Wait," Heero protested, hopping up.

"I need to be alone right now," Matty snapped back, and swept from the room.

Heero froze, looking after him before looking uncertainly back to Duo.

Duo looked from Wufei to Trowa...and they all looked to Quatre.

"Give him fifteen minutes," Blake suggested, rising from the table and starting for the mixing stuff on the counter. "Maybe ten."

"I don't _want_ to," Heero countered, looking back to him.

"If you go after him now, he'll argue with you all the way back to the room," Blake snapped, turning to glower at him. "If you chase him down now, he'll argue about it all."

"I don't _like_ Timorre," Heero snapped. "I don't _have_ to like him."

"But Matty considers him a friend," Blake snapped, gesturing. "Regardless of the bullshit that's been going on, Matty considers Jaden a friend. You're dismissing Matty's opinion in favor of your own."

Heero dropped back into his seat, his expression turning openly troubled. He was quiet for a long moment before finally focusing on Blake again. "What do I do?"

Blake stared at him in disbelief a long moment, then looked around to the others—they were all watching him, wordless.

"You don't have to like Jaden," Blake said quietly. "You don't have to be happy about Matty caring—but you _do_ need to respect that Matty cares."

Heero frowned, looking to Duo.

"Sound advice," Duo agreed quietly, considering his cup a moment. "You've been dismissing his protests out of hand. You need to hear him out and cope with it."

"You can go after him now," Trowa noted quietly. "He probably didn't realize that you've never been in a serious relationship."

"I was with Duo," Heero protested, looking startled.

Duo flashed him a brief grin. "Yeah, with my boyfriend right here?" he gestured at Quatre. "Not the best argument to throw out there."

Quatre flashed him a brief grin.

"Even though he knows?" Heero asked, startled.

"It confuses my emotions to think about it," Quatre supplied.

Heero nodded, then sighed and started for the door. He hesitated, though, turning to look back at them. "What if I get mad?"

"Try and avoid that," Trowa suggested. "And if you just can't help it, tell him you'll be back and go into the hall for a few minutes."

Heero took another breath, as if bracing himself...and disappeared.

Blake moved around the table to sit in Trowa's lap again, giving everyone upset looks as Jin looked worriedly to Wufei.

"Yeah," Wufei noted, moving back to the waffle-machine. "Who else wants waffles?"

* * *

Trowa sighed as he rolled over, pressing lightly against Blake.

"Just because they are having loud sex," Blake muttered, "doesn't mean we're going to."

Trowa snorted at that. "No, move over...I'm at the edge."

"I don't want to move over," Blake protested. "It's warm here..."

Trowa grumped about that a moment, rolling over the other male to drop into the cold portion of the mattress.

The day had led to naps after their breakfast. They'd all needed a few more hours sleep, and had only woken up when Qingfu happily went to wake up Duo. He'd been declaring something about sex and cameras, but Trowa hadn't been fully awake to hear it. Duo'd told him to fuck off, and not long after that, Quatre had started laughing his ass off. Qing's dignity had somehow been injured, but none of the three of them would say what had happened at all.

Aside from the random play, though, Qing had been waking them up for an actual reason.

It had been decided that it wasn't safe to load the gundams onto Illicit. They were going to be fully guarded out to 25, where the pilots could pick them up with the full proof that they weren't kidnapped, deserting, or under duress.

"Trowa?"

"Hm?"

"Heero's not really..._that_ clueless, is he?"

Trowa smirked very slightly. "I'm not _really_ all that better," he noted. "You realize that don't you?"

"You're just a jackass," Blake protested. "I mean really...he like, totally heard me out."

"It was sound advice when the rest of us were at a loss," Trowa protested. "But...yes, he is that clueless."

"How?"

"I told you, didn't I?" Trowa returned. "He was trained out of emotions."

"But..."

"He set his own leg when it got broken by him trying to kill himself," Trowa noted dryly. "Duo'd gone in to save him, and he'd been fully intending to let himself die...I think to get rid of the evidence...when he broke it. He accepted the order to destroy his machine at face-value and didn't try to _escape_ it. We were damn lucky he didn't die on us after that...we ran around the world so he could try to let people shoot him for the _shit_ that went down at New Edwards...he's not _normal_. None of us are _normal_. Duo was an orphan, Quatre's an empath...Wufei was a widower at fifteen. There's so much underlying shit that we had to stay together to stay alive after the wars were done. I pick and choose _what_ I care about, and half the time am reacting in the way that I think people should. You need to tell me if I'm doing something that upsets you."

"Aside from pissing me off?" Blake asked dryly.

"Probably," Trowa noted with a grin. "You don't believe me, but some day you'll remember this conversation and tell me something that you think I should know."

Blake sighed, leaning into him. "I hope I helped...and didn't mess something up."

"You hear that bed pounding?" Trowa asked dryly. "I don't think that's angry sex."

Blake snorted at him.

"We can talk to Matty in the morning," he added quietly. "Hopefully when they're done, everyone can get to sleep."

The younger male was quiet a long moment, so Trowa started to settle...then felt a hand slide between his elbow and his side.

Trowa sniggered. "I thought you said we weren't having loud sex," he protested.

"You're serious?" Blake demanded. "You actually were just trying to make me move in more, weren't you?" he huffed, pushing so Trowa rolled onto his back. "I think I'm disappointed."

"Oh no!" Trowa muttered, situating them a little more comfortably as Blake leaned in. "I'll have to make up for that...most strenuously."

"On your back," Blake agreed dryly. "I can totally see the strain."

Trowa started snickering.

* * *

"Hey, Dad..."

"Matty," Taofa greeted his son. "How are you? _Where_ are you?"

"On the good ship Illicit?" Matty offered, biting his lip.

"As in the ship that launched into outer space in pursuit of the...bad...ship Obsidian."

"Yeah! That's the one!" Matty beamed at his father.

Taofa covered his face with his hands. "You'll be the death of me yet," he informed his son. "I...I think I don't want to ask...but..._why_ are you on the good ship Illicit?"

"Um...Heero got me a new laptop? It matches his car."

Taofa lifted his face to study his son's face a long moment in silence, then sighed heavily. "**_Lifon?_**"

"Yeah, Daddy?" she called, bouncing down the hall and squeaking. "Matty!"

"Your brother called to talk to you, isn't that nice?" Taofa stood.

Matty giggled. "_Dad_."

Tao grinned as the girl bounced closer. "Let the darling tell you her news while I go bang my head against a brick wall, huh?"

Matty giggled more as Lifon bounced where she stood and watched him disappear.

"He went out back," she muttered, turning back to the screen. "What's going on? How did you exasperate him?"

"I guess you heard about Illicit?" Matty asked.

"Yeah," she agreed. "You guys were fixing it up or something, right?"

"Oh, that's right, you talk to Trowa," Matty grinned. "Well...I'm _on_ Illicit."

Li's spoon plunked back into the yogurt cup she was holding as she stared at him.

"Heero got me a laptop like yours," he added excitedly. "It matches his car!"

She started giggling hard at that. "That's why Daddy went outside, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Matty agreed with a grin. "Blake has an orange one."

She giggled more, sitting down.

"What was he talking about?" Matty added curiously. "What news do you have?"

"I'm on birth control," she explained.

Matty blinked at her, attempting to digest it with aplomb and beginning to fail.

"I'm not having sex yet," she retorted, starting to eat her yogurt again. "You're such a _guy_. I was having bad periods...like curling up and crying. It was like, a hormonal frickin' cyclone. One minute I'd be fine, the next it was the end of the world. Daddy took me into doctor when he realized it was my period, and the guy noted that I have stress induced premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Well, he didn't say it was necessarily stress-induced. But I didn't have them _this_ bad until you idiots ran off to get killed in Brazil."

"Wonderful, every male wants to talk with their baby sister about her P.M.S. issues...how does birth control help?"

"It's hormonal?" she tilted her head as she thought. "My mind was sort of glazed when she started telling me about it," she added. "I was trying to figure out the P.M.D.D. stuff and then yeah...Daddy brought it up, I think, because he has to pick it up for me. He gets to go up to the pharmacy and ask them for it and give them my birth year, so everyone around hears how old I am. He was stressed about it. So...I'm on birth control and you're in a war-zone. He's gotta be in a happy place right now—I wonder if he _is_ banging his head against the wall..." she looked out toward the back-doors of the house.

"Hey, before he comes back," Matty muttered, bouncing slightly. "Me and Heero had our first real fight."

She focused back on him.

"Make-up sex is _awesome_."

Lifon started giggling hard.

* * *

"Make-up sex is _awesome_."

Heero stopped as he heard Li start giggling, removing his hand from the door-knob. He stood there a moment, looking around, then moved further up the hall.

"Hey," Trowa greeted him as he moved into the room. "What's up?"

"That was fight?" Heero asked, looking around to make sure Blake wasn't in the immediate vicinity.

"Huh?"

"Yesterday," Heero explained. "Me and Matty were fighting?"

Trowa focused on him a long moment, then shrugged and nodded. "I suppose so."

"Huh," Heero muttered, moving to sit beside his friend. "I was upset."

"So was Matty," Trowa agreed, setting his phone down. "I think this is a conversation for Duo."

"I guess," Heero muttered, then grinned. "He was telling Li that make-up sex is awesome. I figured I shouldn't go in yet."

Trowa snorted, meeting his eyes. "You're special...you see Blake?"

"No," Heero frowned. "Why?"

"He decided he loved me or something," Trowa noted with a grin. "He went to get lunch."

"I thought saying it like that was a joke," Heero muttered, tilting his head.

"It is, halfway," Trowa agreed in amusement, then shook his head. "What did the supreme say?"

Heero made a face, then shrugged. "He'll set us up a transport shuttle so we can head in a bit before the suits are actually due."

"Good," Trowa muttered, shifting to lean against the wall. "I'm tired of waiting. It's about time we got things started."

"You can say that," Heero agreed dryly. "You _have_ a suit."

Trowa snorted, kicking negligently at him with one foot. "Order one refitted and stop whining."

"You're such a caring friend," Heero retorted, rising to his feet to kick at Trowa's leg. "I'm so glad I decided to talk to you."

"You only came in here because the door wasn't closed," Trowa argued happily. "Don't give me that shit."

Heero flashed him a grin, moving into the hall. He smiled at Blake, who had a couple trays, then turned to find Duo.

He wouldn't mind a bit more input into the fight notion...and he didn't want to interrupt Matty's conversation.

* * *

"I cannot believe I let you talk me into doing this," Quatre muttered.

"Your hair is _not_ supposed to be two-toned," Duo retorted. "And for all that we flout it, you're not supposed to have half-colored hair."

Quatre glared briefly up at him.

"What...are you doing?" Heero muttered, stopping to consider his friends. Quatre was sitting on the tub-edge with a towel wrapped around his head—it was pink. It was a very pink towel, and his expression _dared_ Heero to comment on it.

"Uh...we stripped the black out," Duo explained, gesturing. "Right now we're doing the conditioning so his hair doesn't just melt away."

"What color are you going for?" Heero asked curiously, moving to lean against the bathroom-door and make a face at the chemical scent.

"Brown," Quatre shrugged. "I thought about red, but then the specific shade needs this or that, so brown is nice and normal." He tried to look up at the towel. "I didn't get a choice on the towel."

Heero grinned.

"It's just a towel," Duo retorted. "No one should just walk into our room," he looked pointedly to Heero.

Heero grinned, knowing it for a mild rebuke. "Sorry, sorry...my bad."

Duo raised an eyebrow.

"Two things," Heero returned, displaying two fingers. "First, the supreme said he'd lend us a shuttle to get to 25 before the suits. Second, I had a fight?"

"Did you?" Duo asked, raising an eyebrow. "And Jaden didn't kick your ass?"

"No, with Matty," Heero shook his head. "Yesterday...that was a fight?"

Quatre blinked up at him a moment, then met eyes with Duo.

"Let's...go talk in the room," Duo suggested, flicking the fan on as he left the bathroom.

"I hate you right now," Quatre informed him.

"We can have make-up sex later," Duo retorted dismissively.

"Alright," Quatre shifted to lean back against the wall.

"Matty...says it's awesome?" Heero offered back to him. "He was telling Li."

"Of _course_ he was," Duo muttered, rolling his eyes. "Geeze...so where do you want to start?"


	2. Two

**Two**

"You don't have to come back," Jaden muttered, shaking hands with Duo. "Obviously you don't have to—you can take Matty and all of them, and go."

"I know," Duo reassured him with a slight grin. "We fully intend to make it look like you didn't accidentally take us to outer-space."

Jaden blinked at him.

"Qing, can _you_ get through to him?" Duo muttered, offering his hand to his friend.

Qingfu had been staring at Quatre, and blinked at Duo as he heard his name.

"Oh wow, I know how to use dye!" Quatre's tone could be described as 'lack-luster'. "Who'd have thought? You didn't even look twice at the black."

"I thought...you were growing it out," Qingfu admitted.

Quatre tilted his head and grinned a bit.

"It was awesome," Duo noted happily. "The day he did the black was the day he decided to be my boyfriend."

"Ballsy," Qingfu noted, flashing the new brunette a smirk.

"You have _no_ idea," Quatre agreed casually, shoving at Duo. "Hurry up. Decide if I want a suit for me, too."

Duo rolled his eyes, then grabbed Quatre and shoved him at the machine in front of him. "I'll take him with me," he informed Jaden and Qingfu. "Give you guys an hour's relief."

"We'll be gone a couple hours, asshole," Quatre retorted, though he was hanging in the door to the shuttle. "You really want me to come?"

Qingfu and Duo both got the brief flash of an almost identical expression as they looked to him.

"I never tried a threesome," Quatre noted, looking Qingfu up and down suggestively as he wiped at the corner of his mouth with a thumb.

"Wow," Jaden muttered blankly.

Quatre started laughing...and disappeared into the transport.

Duo flashed them both a grin, then ducked in himself.

"I'm riding along," Matty noted happily, tugging Heero along with him. He shoved Heero into the machine before stopping beside Duo.

"I think that just fucked with my head," Qing muttered, glancing to Jaden. "Did it fuck with your head?"

"I just have Rab going on about the blond fuck-toy," Jaden returned, making a face. "The jokes seemed fun enough, but it makes me wonder why he was so adamant that Quatre was...a whore."

"Because he's a useless son-of-a-bitch," Duo said in a very level tone. "And couldn't get over the fact that we kids bested him in every aspect. Quatre was the only one he could take a consistent stab at, so he did."

"Nothing like declaring a sixteen year old a sex-toy," Jaden noted to Qing quietly.

Qingfu made a disgusted face, then started to extend a hand.

"Wait for me!" Blake yelled happily, diving between them.

"_Damn_ it, Blake," Trowa muttered, slowing as the teen disappeared into the machine. "I was going to leave him here," he noted dryly to Jaden. He took Qingfu's hand and shook it. "We shouldn't be gone too long. You kidnapped us," he added, taking Jaden's hand. "So you get to put up with us."

"I've...had better ideas," Jaden noted dryly.

Trowa laughed, patting Duo briefly on the shoulder...and ducked inside.

"We still seem to be missing some," Qingfu noted speculatively.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Wufei muttered, moving up to the ship and rolling his eyes. "I've been talking damn fast to get a certain husband to not try and insist we go visiting the friends here."

"You should," Duo protested. "He's been all on about it—let them know, and if they join our cause, we can have like, ten of you—then we'd _really_ get shit done."

Wufei flashed him a grin, patting Qingfu's shoulder and winking at Jaden as he disappeared.

Jinli seemed to be swearing as he moved toward them with a bag over his shoulder. He nodded his head briefly toward Qingfu and Jaden...and disappeared into the machine.

"So that was Quatre," Duo muttered, raising a hand to tick off names. "Then Heero, Trowa...Wufei. Then Jin, Blake, and Matty. Look at that, Supreme, you get rid of all of us for at least the day."

Jaden snickered. "I can have your shit packed in ten minutes."

Duo's focus snapped onto Qingfu. The pair stared at each other, and Duo started almost giggling as he turned and moved onto the ship.

"Wow," Jaden muttered as the door started to seal. "I really just..." he slapped the fingers of his right hand into his left palm, "_walked_ into that one..."

Qingfu started laughing as they moved backwards. "You really did...like _badly_."

* * *

"Well," Une muttered as Trowa led the way off the ship. "You certainly like making waves, don't you?"

"What fun would life be if it was always the same?" Trowa retorted with a shrug. He moved forward to take her hand in his and bow over it as he met her eyes.

She smiled at him, shaking her head as he brushed her hand across his mouth without really touching it. "You're such a jackass," she muttered, though her eyes were sparkling.

"We just want our suits," Quatre informed her happily as he took Trowa's place.

"Your hair!" Une almost protested, moving forward to touch it with her fingertips. "What did you do to your hair?"

"I told him he should go red," Matty noted happily, moving around the other men. "He was bickering about it, though."

"You're so gay," Quatre informed him happily.

"For now—I haven't found an amiable woman yet to check, though."

Duo started snickering. "Heero can find one for both of you."

Quatre snickered wickedly as Une's attention swiveled around to Duo almost scathingly.

Duo laughed more.

It didn't take too long for the group of them to be following the woman down the hallways. She was telling them what orders had been given in their wake in Brazil and Peru.

"You didn't counter any of their notions," Une added. "So they're running like you gave them the go ahead for whatever plans they made."

"I don't care," Duo noted with a shrug. "As long as they don't get in my way, they can do as they will."

She shrugged her agreement to that. "Otherwise..." she turned into an office. "Lu is mad at you. She worked hard to get to Earth and you all just hop back into space like it was nothing."

"Yeah...we...didn't think it out that far," Duo admitted.

The woman shrugged, standing there so they could all move past her.

"Gerrange took a cruise ship," she added, looking them all over as she shut the door. She stopped, though, considering Blake skeptically.

"Make a big deal of it," Trowa challenged her.

The woman huffed at that, moving into the room properly. "_Any_way, with Obsidian, he can stay afloat in space for a week without updating his oxygen. We have that time to be sure he..."

"That's only if he thought enough ahead to fill his tanks," Quatre protested. "He may not have—for water _or_ air."

She stared at him.

"The man's not a genius," Quatre reminded her. "Actually, his common sense is lacking, too. We can't assume we have the full week to get him before he drops back planet-side...besides, Obsidian had a house-size hole in her side last time I looked."

"He found some way to patch it well enough to get through the atmosphere," she noted. "So we have to assume he can get back down."

"At least for worse-case scenario," Trowa noted. "Best-case is he burns up on re-entry."

"That's not funny," Blake protested at him with a frown.

Trowa met his eyes briefly, looking amused, then shrugged at the woman.

"So...what do you want?" Wufei asked with interest.

"Get this done within the month," Une shrugged. "Stop fucking around finish it. You fuck around much more and we'll lose any credibility we have as a unit. Demigod is working again. You have Deathscythe—you have Heavyarms. You five saved the fucking _world_, what the hell is this?"

They all gave her a very level look.

She shrugged again. "You have your assignment. Make it work."

"I love unlimited martial supplies," Wufei chirped happily. "Let's go recruiting," he added to Jinli. "Or at least to visit."

"I want to see Ranger," Quatre noted in amusement.

Matty looked away, realizing the man _was_ on this colony.

"So you'll play for now," Une noted dryly, considering them all levelly. "Of course."

Wufei and Quatre gave her beautiful innocent-looking smiles as Duo shifted to a comfortable stance to consider her.

Une considered him a long moment, then returned her own beautiful smile. "No."

* * *

"So you're...in 25," Taofa noted quietly. "As in...probably within two miles of your uncle."

"I suppose you can look at it that way," Matty muttered. "We're only gonna be here a few hours, though."

"Go see Wren."

"Dad," Matty started.

"_Go_ see him," Taofa insisted. "Your uncle wants to see you."

"..._Dad_," Matty tried again, looking around.

"**_Go_** see your _uncle_," Taofa snapped. "You've been on that colony too many times without seeing him."

Matty huffed.

"My _brother_ wants to see his _nephew_," Taofa snapped.

"Okay _fine!_" Matty snapped back. "It's on _your_ head though."

The man started to protest, but Matty ended the call. He stormed from the room irritably, moving with Cardle and his group—they were his guards—to the main area the other pilots were in.

"What's wrong?" Heero asked, looking up to him in concern.

"My dad is insisting I go see my uncle," Matty returned irritably.

"He _is_ on the colony," Heero noted, tilting his head. "He shouldn't mind the soldiers."

"We'll see," Matty agreed, rolling his eyes as he moved to kiss his lover. "I'm gonna just go do it."

"Call in a second unit," Heero ordered the Cardle.

Cardle saluted him easily, gesturing with his head to Matty. "It'll be faster if we all just go gather them up, huh?"

"I'll be back," Matty agreed, kissing Heero again, then turned to follow the man.

* * *

Wren Williams opened the door to his house, wondering who'd come to visit...and froze as soldiers poured through the door.

"What is the _meaning_..." he started...but stopped as one soldier turned to meet his eyes.

He...had a blue stripe of paint on his temple.

Wren frowned.

"All clear!" someone shouted from down the hall.

"All clear!" the call worked its way down the hallway to the door.

Wren was about to demand again, what the meaning of the nonsense was—he hadn't done anything remotely illegal in at least a week—when...of _all_ people in the world...his nephew appeared in the doorway.

Wren stared.

"Hi, Uncle," Matty muttered, moving forward to hug him. "Sorry about this—but dad insisted."

"Your dad insisted you invade my..." he trailed off, turning alarmed. "My girlfriend is in my room!" he shouted. "She's not dressed!"

There was a stifled shriek from the bedroom as the soldiers started talking quickly.

Wren turned to glower at Matty.

"Dad insisted I come visit," Matty informed him with an easy shrug. "I came to visit."

"With half the base with you?" Wren gestured to the soldiers.

"Sir, we're a very small portion of the base," the blond man noted.

"This is Cardle," Matty noted, indicating the guy. "Raymond is most likely the man checking your naked girlfriend out..._Raymond_," he shouted. "Leave the woman alone."

"I didn't do anything," the man protested, stepping back into the hall to frown at him. "We're checking the area for weaponry, but we won't make her..."

"I have a certified firearm," Wren snapped. "It's in my room."

"He says it's certified," the man noted into the room. "Sorry for the disturbance, miss," he tipped his hat at her, then stood back as the soldiers came from the room.

"I thought all-clear meant the house was clear," Matty added to the blond skeptically.

"We'd rather _not_ have you in the open," the man retorted. "That means getting you to a safe-zone as fast as possible. This is your uncle's home so we haven't gotten as thorough as we normally would."

Wren considered the group of men irritably, then spun to glare at Matty.

"I _tried_ to tell Dad I can't travel alone, but he won't listen," Matty noted, moving to hug the other happily again. "So this is all on him."

Wren snorted. "I'll be sure he knows my...uh...mind."

Matty grinned at him, then bounced toward the kitchen. "You have like, drinks for twenty guys, right?"

"Water," Wren agreed wryly.

Matty started laughing.

* * *

"It's in fair condition," the colonel muttered to Quatre as they stood at the feet of a Taurus. "The pieces are all where and how they should fit...that sort of nonsense. The refit took about ten minutes, truth be told. I imagine you're gonna look it over anyway," the man glanced at Quatre. "So I won't bore you with the 'we're safe' lines."

"That's appreciated," Quatre agreed, vaguely amused. His stomach was clenched into a knot of anxiety as he actually considered using the machine—it'd been so long since he'd even entertained the idea. He _wanted_ to have a machine, because the helplessness of man against MS...well, he had the ability to overcome that. It was probably his subconscious giving vent to his paranoia—the nightmares.

In all honesty, he wanted to dig out Sandrock and be done with the whole ordeal, and Une's month deadline. He had the idea in his head that with Sandrock he could win the shit by himself, independent of Duo and the rest. That wasn't realistic or true, but he _had_ been trained to...take over the world...by himself.

...he wondered briefly, what Rashid was doing anymore. They hadn't talked in six months, and the last he'd known, the man had been doing space salvage.

"What are your orders?" the colonel muttered.

"Have my men look it over," Quatre gestured at the machine. "When they get back with Williams-Yuy, I mean. I have some things to take care of."

The man blinked at him.

"You're far too true for me to worry about," Quatre noted in amusement as he started away backwards. "Thank you for your assistance."

The man saluted, looking startled.

Quatre returned the gesture, turning away and starting for the exit.

Duo, who was giving Deathscythe a look-over, stepped onto one of the braces that surrounded the black metal devil to look down at his lover. He smiled, and Quatre smiled back. He held the other's eyes as long as he could manage without walking off-course, then focused on his path...

To see Heero leaning against the wall to the entrance with his arms crossed as he considered the new brunette.

Quatre tilted his head as he moved.

"You're going to Hanager," Heero noted. "We were told not to."

"Shh, don't tell," Quatre pressed his index finger briefly to his lips, not slowing.

"But what do I do meantime?" he protested happily, falling in behind. "I can't get laid, 'cause my boyfriend ran off."

"You're not coming-on to me, are you?" Quatre demanded happily. There was a dark sort of amusement in the other man's bearing. He wasn't coming-on to Quatre, and the idea had probably never crossed his mind.

"You game?" Heero asked happily, glancing back the way they'd come. "I don't think Duo'd mind—he'd probably join."

Quatre swatted at him.

Heero laughed happily, calming as he looked around. "I'm bored."

"I don't want you coming in with me."

"I _know_ that," Heero protested at him. "You're mean to me."

"...all...night...long?" Quatre gave him a perplexed look.

Heero hissed appreciatively, starting to laugh again.

"Sorry, it's my response to your boy...friend..." he trailed off, realizing how badly misconstrued that could be.

"Hm," Heero returned easily.

"So, Heero!" Quatre chirped the words brightly, turning to smile at his friend. "How are you?"

"I want to say horny," Heero returned, giving him a thoughtful look. "But I don't really mean it."

Quatre started laughing.

Heero grinned, looking around again. "I'd let you be mean to me all night long."

Quatre _guffawed_.

The man laughed again, meeting Quatre's eyes. He considered his friend a long moment, then shook his head and looked away again.

"What?" Quatre demanded suspiciously.

"If I'd said that to you a year ago," Heero returned, "what would your response be?"

"I'd blush damn hard," Quatre realized, thinking back. "I wouldn't be able to speak or look at you for an hour."

"I wouldn't have _said_ it to you a year ago," Heero noted thoughtfully. "You've changed."

"And you haven't?" Quatre gave him another interested look.

"I like being in love," Heero noted, meeting his eyes.

Quatre nodded his own agreement, glancing back the way he'd come. It was strange to think how his relationship with Duo had changed.

"Granted, a year ago we weren't part of this."

"That's water under the bridge," Quatre noted.

"Mm, on your fifteen," Heero muttered. "Act casual."

Quatre looked back at him, then nodded his head...and Heero veered off down the hall they were passing. Quatre picked up speed as he passed the thing, looking around himself. He hadn't even considered what he'd tell anyone who approached him—probably the truth, actually. He had no idea what Heero was going to say, and couldn't rightly care.

He wanted to see what Hanager was now...how he'd changed...what resources he thought he had. The man had some, and the closer Quatre got to him, the more he could feel that smoldering confidence.

He turned into the wing where the prisoners were kept, noting the various soldiers salute respectfully.

He grinned as he slid his badge through the reader, and moved past the men without a word.

They probably knew he wasn't supposed to see Hanager...but they weren't going to interfere with him if they could help it, and not talking to them put them in a form of the-clear.

The pull to the other man was almost like a siren's song...a sort of luring bait. He followed it through the various halls as the various prisoners turned to look at him. Some cat-called after him, and some just moved to look out the windows of their cells...probably in wonder.

He didn't know how many rules he was breaking, being down here with no guards.

"Good god, what are _you_ doing here?" Hanager demanded from where he was sitting against a back wall. He had the upper part of his jump-suit tied around his waist, and a white t-shirt under it...other than that, he was a little unkempt.

"Hi, Deroy," Quatre returned happily.

"What did you _do_ to your hair?" the man added, shifting the book he'd evidently been reading over as he considered Quatre. He set the book down finally, running a hand through his own. "I guess I'm not really one to talk."

Quatre watched him a long moment, leaning against the sill—the cells had large picture-windows to see inside them...but the glass wasn't thick. It was run through with a wire-mesh, too.

"I'm surprised they let you down here," Hanager added. "I don't suppose you've come to kill me, have you? I'm bored out of my fucking mind." The guy looked around a moment, then pushed himself up. "You're alone," he noted, moving toward the window. "How are you alone?"

"I have this pretty little rank tag," Quatre returned, tapping the star. "Very few people tell me what to do."

"But when you're naughty, you get more than a slap on the wrist," the man noted, moving right up to the glass. He looked down the hall in either direction as far as he could manage, then leaned forward. He had both his hands supporting him on the inner-sill, centered, so he was as close to the glass as he could manage without touching it.

"It's harder than you might imagine to get me in trouble," Quatre noted in amusement, allowing the sense of the other man to surround him. He wasn't sure Hanger wasn't doing the exact same thing in return, but it also didn't matter, because Quatre was free to do whatever the fuck he wanted.

"What are you doing?" Hanager asked after a long moment, looking around Quatre. "I feel..."

"Me?" Quatre offered in amusement, raising one hand so the sensation moved over his palm. "I know you, Deroy," he said happily. "I can feel your life-force, your hopes...all but read your forsaken mind," he grinned a bit wickedly. "You get to watch the news, huh?"

"I saw," the man agreed, not rising to the offered malice. "I saw what your friends did to that ship. I saw what J started...how does it feel, hm? How does it feel to have a new lap dog?"

"It's just the warmest snuggliest thing," Quatre returned, lowering his voice as he leaned forward in a similar manner to the prisoner. "You should see how he melts when I pet him."

There was an upset sort of angered jealousy in response to that. Ranger hadn't really quit being Jaden's friend...they'd had no proper falling out or conclusion to their relationship, whatever it had been.

Quatre took a moment to appreciate the anger and how little it had taken to bring it to the fore.

Ranger glared, his demeanor relaxing.

"You've made friends," Quatre breathed, smirking slightly. "Guess who I'm going to find?" he shifted back a step with a smirk. "You're the bad guy, remember?"

The calm melted away from the other man as his expression became angry.

Quatre smirked, stepping back again. "I think I'm gonna go for general," he decided happily. "I wonder what Rabid would think of that, huh?"

The man slammed his palms to the glass, his expression beyond pissed.

Quatre laughed a little more, sliding his hands into his pocket as he started to stroll away. He started whistling as he moved, considering the ceiling as he did so...realizing it was the old revolution tune. The prisoner's wing wasn't quiet, really, but his whistle was crisp and clear as it carried it through the air...and he changed it at a convenient break to another tune...it was called 'The Emperor's March'.

That emperor had thrown down a rebellion, and it was the song played as the emperor met with the rebel leader...and sliced off his head.

Ranger was snarling.

Quatre laughed to himself as he moved back out of the area, noting the soldiers looking at him like they were deer and he was a lion. It made him laugh a little more as he met each and every one of their eyes...and walked away.

...it was time, metaphorically speaking, to sharpen his sword.

* * *

"Hey, brother," Wren muttered happily.

"Wren," Taofa perked up. "Did my brat of a son stop by?"

"Oh yes," Wren agreed with mock happiness. "Him and all twenty of his personal guard."

Taofa stopped.

"He said he felt bad, but you'd insisted," Wren went on happily. "So he came to stop by...Tao? I have this girlfriend...she's...pretty young with this _hot_ ass body..."

Taofa raised his eyebrows.

"Sexy as _hell_...rocks my _world_..."

Tao rolled his eyes.

"She was naked in my bedroom...when the soldiers came to visit...they didn't make her get out of the bed...but she's not gonna rock my world tonight."

Tao started laughing wickedly.

"You _laugh_..."

"Wren," Taofa returned evenly. "I have a seventeen year old daughter who's gotten more action in the last year of her life...not even having sex yet...and she's gotten more action in the last _year_ than I have since her mother died. Do you _really_ expect to gain my sympathy by telling me you're not getting laid tonight? _Really?_"

Wren snickered himself.

"Besides," Tao went on happily, taking a drink from his cup. "I only made him do it so he remembered I'm his dad and he has to listen to me."

Wren glared at him a long moment, amused and trying to hide it. "Taofa?" he muttered. "I would tell you I hate you...and hang up...but then you'd probably get struck by lightning and the last thing I'd have said to you was I hated you."

Taofa started laughing...and ended the call. He turned raising his banana back to his mouth...and blinked at his daughter.

"Uncle Wren, huh?" she asked, a wicked grin on her face. "I feel bad for his girlfriend."

"You heard that, huh?" Tao asked, making a slight face. "You weren't supposed to eavesdrop."

"I was going to ask if you minded if I went to Ade's."

"No," he returned. "Go away."

Lifon giggled, bouncing over to hug him and take his banana. "I love you, Daddy..." she kissed his cheek. "You should go on a date."

"Since it's _that_ easy," he retorted, putting his hand on his hip as she dumped the banana peel into the garbage...and bounced from the kitchen.

"I love you, Daddy!" she said again happily from the door.

"I love you, too," he returned, rolling his eyes as he looked around for the banana he'd been eating...and realized that she'd taken it. "Little snot," he complained as the car door shut. He dug out another banana with a sigh, grinning slightly to himself as he moved back to the living room.

He...sort of wanted to hear her next conversation with Matty.

* * *

Matty considered the soldier who was trying to complain to Heero with interest as he tried to focus on what about the man seemed odd. He couldn't focus on anything specifically, but it was a very distinct...something.

Quatre moved into the room with his hands in his pockets and an unmistakable swagger. He smiled at Matty as he neared them, then tilted his own head. He thought about something a moment...

...guilt. Matty could feel the man's guilt and uncertainty. There was also a growing hope or something like that in it.

Quatre snorted slightly, making the wind-it-up gesture at Heero as he turned to the door. He gestured a soldier in after him, looking back to the other man.

"Sir?" the soldier muttered, saluting Quatre uncertainly.

"This man is not to get closer than a hundred meters of Deroy Hanager for the duration of Hanager's stay," Quatre noted pleasantly.

The soldier who'd been complaining stared at Quatre, his jaw starting to drop.

"That is a complete non-contact order," Quatre went on pleasantly. "Be sure that people are advised."

The soldier looked blankly to the other man, then saluted again and looked around a moment. He finally spotted the computer console, moving to it and scanning his own badge.

Ah, MP.

Matty shifted to move behind Heero, giving him an upset look.

The man was a friend of _Ranger_.

"You can't..." the man in question started.

Quatre raised a hand, palm out as he smiled at the other man. "Please, you can file a formal complaint and appeal. My order stands."

"But, Sir..." the man started.

Quatre gave him an interested look, glancing at Matty. He smiled, though, focusing back on the other man. "I'm sorry, I'm being dictatorial. At the very least I should explain my reasoning, shouldn't I?" He glanced back at Matty again.

What was _with_ him?

"You see," Quatre looked back to the other man. "I'm what's commonly called a space-heart. The term implies a paranormal ability to sense the emotions and motives of people around me—empathy, if you will. I've been trained by the government, and my abilities have been manifest and documented in all of their forms. As a Brigadier General of the Earthsphere Alliance, and a space-heart, I can make this sort of...uh... subjective? ...order." He glanced at Matty. "Upon your appeal, a panel of space hearts will weigh my orders and decide if I was out of bounds in making such a decision. If you go directly to the central processing area, and I will give you such an order if you'd like, you can have a hearing arranged tomorrow afternoon."

The man stared at him.

Quatre smiled sweetly.

"Under what grounds do you give this order?" the MP guy asked, looking back to Quatre.

"Suspicion of fraternizing with the enemy," Quatre returned.

"And what evidence would you have stated?" the guy was typing.

"As a space-heart, I can sense the connection between the two men. I spoke with Deroy Hanager a brief time ago..."

"You were ordered by Une not to approach..." the man started, turning to stare at him.

"I was," Quatre agreed. "I ignored the orders. That's not the point at this moment. Finish with this before approaching that."

The man rolled his eyes expressively, turning back to typing.

"...I spoke with Deroy Hanager a brief time ago," Quatre repeated. "And found that he had an unwarranted hope, and connections to people on the base who were not confined. I am searching out those men at this time in order to prevent any possible inconvenience to all those involved."

The MP shook his head, starting to click through other things, then turned and extended a preemptory hand toward the soldier in question.

The man frowned, moving across and giving his badge without hesitation. That was scanned, then a second time.

"And mine," Quatre added, extending his. "To verify the originating orders."

"Matty and I are witness," Heero noted, also moving over to extend his badge.

Matty hadn't expected that, and moved around nearer to Quatre as the soldier they were dealing with blinked at him. Matty couldn't meet the man's eyes as he fumbled his own badge out, meeting eyes with the MP nervously...and blinking at the blue streak on his temple.

The MP-guy smiled slightly at him, scanning his badge and passing it back before saluting Quatre...and starting to sign out of the program.

"I'd like to find the other contact," Quatre informed the man calmly. "Before you broach the orders I ignored."

The man nodded tersely, starting away. "I expect you to return to me as soon as your business is finished."

"Of course," Quatre agreed sweetly.

The other soldier saluted them all, lowering his eyes.

"There's no shame in friendship," Quatre noted quietly. "Or personal attraction. The orders are to prevent mischief on Hanager's part—to protect you from such mischief should he decide to use you in some form. I apologize."

The man saluted again, then hesitated and looked to Matty.

Matty stepped back quickly.

"Why are you afraid of me?" he asked quietly.

"He's a special. I couldn't do what he wanted me to...so he used his training. He scares me, and he's tried to abduct me."

The man considered him a long moment, the nodded his head and started silently from the room.

Quatre sighed, looking back to Heero and Matty. "How pissed you think that MP'll be when I take off with you guys before presenting myself?"

Heero flashed him a grin as Matty slid into his arms, glancing down briefly. "He didn't give you his name...or try and make sure you knew it."

"What?" Quatre asked blankly.

"The MP. He said for you to turn yourself into him...but didn't say who he was or where he'd be. Do you know him?"

Quatre smirked very slightly, meeting Matty's eyes. "No idea."

Heero snorted.

"Wow," Matty muttered, leaning more into his lover. "That's just...special."


	3. Three

**Three**

Qingfu was happy as he bounced into the port area, then blinked at Jaden. The transport was returning, and after having a fairly boring day, Qingfu was happy that the group would be back. He started down the stairs, considering his lover.

Jaden was standing at the edge of the walk, bending his knees and bouncing very slightly up...with his arms weird.

. . . he had his fingers out and crossed.

Qingfu sighed to himself as he got nearer, wondering how many people in the docking area had seen their supreme ruler bouncing.

"Please let it be empty," Jaden whispered as he bounced. "Please let it be empty, please let it be..."

"Den," Qing chided.

Jaden laughed happily, turning to kiss him briefly.

The door-seal hissed...and Jaden went back to his bouncing and muttering.

Duo appeared as the door slid open, looking somehow rugged in his regs...with a sucker in his mouth. He eyed Jaden a long moment, then moved from the ship and pulled out the sucker.

"Damn," Jaden muttered, lowering his hands.

"Double-cross is bad-luck," Duo noted. "Didn't you know that?" he put the candy back in his mouth.

Jaden grinned, shaking his head as he looked Duo over.

"I want one," Qingfu protested, stepping forward.

"Ooh," Duo returned, stepping into him...which set Qingfu back. He liked Duo, he was fun to hang out with and kept the boredom away—but with his hair mussed...and _whatever_ it was about him, and that...

The sucker waved in front of Qingfu's mouth, and he pursed his lips, trying not to lick them.

Duo laughed wickedly, spinning as Jaden watched skeptically...and pressed himself into Qingfu's chest.

"Uh..." Qingfu was trying to think fast, but there was a definite musk about the man...and wow, that was his ass.

"Duo," Quatre chided casually as he slinked out of the ship himself. He had much the same aire as his lover...which probably meant they'd fucked on the ship. Nice.

It didn't give Qingfu the ability to extricate himself, though.

"Weren't you talking about threesomes earlier?" Duo asked sweetly...and pressed the sucker to Qingfu's lips.

Qingfu opened his mouth to protest...then realized it was plastic. He pulled back, looking down...to see a wrapped sucker being offered.

"Sorry," Quatre muttered, moving to lean in close to Duo's face before flicking his eyes to Qingfu. "He's feeling playful."

Duo laughed wickedly, darting forward for a kiss.

Jaden snickered.

Qingfu moved away from the pair as quickly as he could manage with anything _like_ dignity. He'd never seen Duo as a sexual interest, but that image was now quite firmly in place.

Gods...if the rest of them were...

Jinli appeared next, his expression irritated as he spotted the two leaders. "I'm going to skin them," he noted, indicating the pair of males. "I'm just going to skin them...they've been like that the _whole_ flight."

Qingfu blinked.

"Did you get _close_ to him?" he demanded, indicating Quatre. "He set them _all_ off!" he indicated the ship with an irate sort of gesture.

"Calm down," Wufei muttered casually, rolling his eyes as he moved out himself.

"Are we playing showcase?" Jaden asked curiously, glancing back at the ship. "You're all coming out one at a time."

"The rest are slowly getting their stuff together," Wufei shrugged. "Jin doesn't know how to deal with us when we're feeling...confident."

Jinli _spun_ to glower at him.

Wufei laughed, moving back.

"I applied," Quatre noted, moving around Qingfu to be behind Jaden, looking up at him from the corner of his eye. "I put in my application."

"...for what?" Jaden muttered, shifting back. Qingfu understood that totally. He had already moved away from the man...but he could _feel_ that Duo was right behind him.

"I wanna be a general," Quatre purred, studying Jaden's eyes.

Jaden was put-off by that. Qingfu could see the thoughts passing through his mind. They'd had years of association with Rab, and Rab's overall opinion and expected responses about Winner were of the sex-toy nature. The notion of _him_ gaining that rank was a bit...confusing, actually. The association was far too new to be immediately accepted.

Quatre laughed a wicked and low laugh, deep in his throat as he moved even closer to Jaden.

"He's _reading_ you," Duo muttered over Qingfu's shoulder.

Qingfu jumped slightly, moving away from _him_, too.

"Enough," Trowa chided casually as he moved from the ship himself. He had that same confidence, but from _him_ that was a more natural state. There was something in his eyes that was unnerving, but he wasn't overbearing.

Duo turned to look at him, his eyes alight.

"You don't know what you think about me with that rank," Quatre purred up at Jaden, moving into his chest.

"I'm half worried I'll grab you," Jaden informed Quatre.

Quatre laughed wickedly...and spun away.

"Tease," Duo teased his lover.

The pair disappeared into the margin again as Jin moved nearer to Jaden and gave Qingfu a put-upon look.

The next person to appear was Matty, and he darted up to grab Jaden's wrist. "Tell him you're sorry," Matty whispered. "Just say that and don't argue or add anything."

Jaden blinked down at him as Heero appeared.

Qingfu's heart leapt...but that was more like fear than anything else. He watched as the man moved from the ship with the body-language of a half-sated tiger. 01 wasn't a man to be trifled with, and the amusement in his eyes looked too much like the shots that had been taken of him during the wars.

Jaden had that same moment of fear...but mastered himself as they met and locked eyes. "I'm sorry," Jaden said, though he looked half-ready to fight.

Heero stared at him a long moment, almost seeming to wait. When nothing more came of it, he focused across the room behind them. When his eyes landed thoughtfully on Qingfu, Qingfu was half ready to bolt...but the attention passed.

Yuy stepped forward, and offered his hand.

Jaden hesitated a brief moment, then accepted it.

"If you cross me again," the man all but purred. "I'll kill you...but you know that."

Jaden nodded.

Heero nodded himself, letting go...before turning a smile onto Qingfu. "I can see you've been...uh...accosted," he noted, stepping to extend his hand. "We didn't realize what Duo was about until he was out of our bounds...hope he didn't put you off too badly."

Duo laughed a low wicked laugh. "I didn't put him off," he noted. "Other things, maybe...not not that."

Qingfu nearly threw the sucker at the male, then focused on it in confusion.

He didn't remember _taking_ it from Duo.

Quatre laughed.

"Did Quatre tell you, then?" Heero added as Matty moved up under his arm. "He's decided to apply for the rank-upgrade?"

Jaden nodded.

"The rest of us would be happy with a one-step upgrade," Heero noted happily. "But Quatre wants to rival Une...I think the chemicals fried his brain," he indicated the brown hair. "But he's put the papers in, and in a few weeks we'll get a response of some sort."

"Actually, I'd be happy _not_ to upgrade," Trowa noted, then pounded on the side of the ship.

Matty smiled, looking to Jaden. "Blake is a little off-put."

"He's just begging them to fuck with him," Wufei agreed, rolling his eyes. "Qingfu, if you could start away, Duo will follow."

Duo laughed wickedly, moving around Quatre to step _at_ Qingfu.

Qingfu fled backwards a few steps, realizing that Quatre was following with an evil smirk.

"I'm going to _skin_ them," Jinli informed Jaden again. "_All_ of them! A blanket of the hides of the brigadier generals would catch a _high price_," he shot after Duo.

Duo started laughing, turning to look sidelong at the other male...and pulling the sucker very slowly from his mouth.

Jinli started hissing and spitting, starting forward...only to have his wrist caught by Wufei, who was laughing.

"We should _totally_ go unpack," Quatre noted to his lover.

Duo started laughing wickedly...and groped Qingfu.

"Hey!" Qingfu protested, managing a bit of ire at that...but evidently it was a form of good-bye, because Duo and Quatre were disappearing across the docking area.

"If they're going to pretend to have other motives for running off," Wufei called loud enough for them to hear. "They should at least _grab_ their bags."

"You're a pal, Fian!" Duo called, turning back to wave happily at him. "Thank you!"

Wufei started laughing.

"You okay?" Matty asked, moving closer to him. "You look a little...uh..."

"He _grabbed_ me!" Qingfu retorted, moving back to them to gesture after the men. "He _totally_ grabbed me!"

"You're lucky that's all you got," Blake noted from where he was standing in the door to the ship.

Trowa laughed, moving to wrap an arm around him. "We do have some bags to drop off at our rooms, then I'll come debrief you. Give me say...fifteen minutes, maybe twenty. We brought my guys," he added to Jaden. "Don't let them get you alone in a hall."

One of the men who'd been chasing them in Sierra Leon, the blond, appeared. He looked between Qingfu and Jaden with an almost flat expression.

"This is Cardle," Trowa added. "He's under orders to be civil."

The man flashed them a toothy smile with very little in the way of greeting in it.

"This is Raymond," he added as the brunette stepped out. "He's either more or less likely to go homicidal on the two of you, but also under orders...and this," a Hispanic looking male moved from the ship, considering them one at a time. "This is Ricci. If he starts looking dangerous, ask him about his son—how old is he again?"

"Seven months," the man supplied, turning to meet his eyes.

Trowa smiled back at him. "These three are mine specifically, loyal as fuck to Matty and well taken with Blake now. You okay?" he added to his boyfriend.

"Duo _groped_ me," Blake protested. "_In_side my pants."

Jaden dropped his head back to look at the ceiling.

"When?" Trowa protested.

"On his way _out_," Blake gestured back at the ship. "I had my back to the aisle, and..."

Trowa swore, turning around to glower at Heero almost accusingly.

"Can I just...go to bed?" the pilot asked of Jaden and Qingfu, looking more than put-upon. "Please?"

"They were like that the whole way?" Jaden asked.

The guy nodded, not looking at them.

"You earned it," Qingfu agreed, gesturing back the way he'd come. "Feel free."

"_Thank_ you," the man muttered...and darted away.

"Bye!" Heero chirped happily after him—he was happily ignoring Trowa. "Have a good day!"

Trowa started laughing.

"Mm," Wufei muttered, looking back to the ship. "I guess that means I'm in charge of Deathscythe and Demigod."

The words made Qingfu feel cold inside as he followed the man's glance back to the ship.

"Wait," Jaden protested. "Only those two? Isn't Z...Hea...Heavyarms...on there?"

"Quatre got himself a toy," Trowa noted, rolling his eyes. "I'll offload it."

They all looked to Heero.

"If they're all off in suits," Heero noted, "I'm not leaving my husband to the winds of chance," he squeezed Matty slightly, shrugging a bit. "And we have two more brief guests coming with the second load."

"Two more brief guests?" Jaden echoed, his tone losing heart.

"Lu!" Matty chirped excitedly. "She came up with the suits!" he actually bounced. "She wants to stay a few nights and I told her I'd ask," he informed Jaden. "But she had come down to visit us on Earth and then you hijacked us," he smiled brightly. "You hijacked us."

"You could _try_ subtle," Qingfu hazarded.

"Nah, I'm not good at it," Matty smiled at him.

Jaden sighed heavily...and walked away.

"Hey!" Matty called after him, then started giggling when he didn't respond.

"Right...so...this way," Qingfu noted, indicating the man to the group of them...and ran for it.

* * *

Trowa shifted back out of Heavyarms, rubbing the back of his hand across is forehead. There was nothing wrong with his machine, but he figured he may as well check the cogs and wheels visually before the serious fighting began.

For all that they'd been set a time-limit—which in effect gave them free reign to do what they saw necessary—Matty, Lu, Blake, and Heero were chatting happily on one of the risers.

Duo was off meeting with Jaden and Qingfu, and had Wufei with him. For some reason, that also meant that Jinli was with him...Wufei and Jin had decided they were connected at the hip at some nondescript point over the past few days, and were giving most people the remarkable display of a happily married couple...or something.

Quatre had gotten an official call from the ESA.

Trowa nearly ran his hand through his hair before something black caught his attention, and he focused on the oil smeared across his hands. He had a feeling his face was covered in the stuff, and knew for a fact that his shirt and pants were. He hadn't thought that checking the machine would make him filthy, but he wanted to be damn sure things were doing what they were supposed to be doing around the oxygen supply.

"**_Barton!_**"

Trowa jumped hard, a shard of memory flashing through his head...a dark hanger, quiet, with a similar scent of mechanics.

He blinked, looking to the hanger to make sure it was the right shade of bright and color.

"_Barton!_" Zechs repeated.

Trowa climbed out of his hole, looking the hanger over as he considered what he'd remembered. It wasn't traveling with the mercenaries, it was around when he'd changed from No-name to Trowa.

"You look a little pale," Quatre noted, tilting his head. "You okay?"

"Random memory flare," Trowa explained, climbing out to consider the distance to the riser. He knew he could make it, but he hadn't recovered his mental equilibrium yet.

"What of?"

"Nothing, really," he hopped, looking around for Blake briefly. "Just Heavyarms," he looked back to the machine, blinking. "Just...me doing this same thing in Heavyarms before Barton was shot."

Quatre flinched appreciatively.

"You okay?" Heero asked.

"It was nothing," Trowa shrugged. "I...I think Trowa was actually watching me."

Matty and Blake exchanged a look.

"Someone shouted Barton up at him and scared the shit out of me," he gave Zechs a look.

The man smiled at him.

"We love you, Trowa," Lu muttered, moving up to plant a chaste kiss on one of his cheeks. Matty was a moment later to kiss the other...and Blake leaned in for a proper one.

Trowa laughed, pulling away to give the guy a look.

"So...I say again," Zechs muttered after a moment. "_Barton_."

"_What?_" Trowa half-whined, meeting his eyes as he took the rag from Blake to wipe his hands.

"Yuy?" Quatre offered.

"I'm going to _kill_ him!" Jinli shouted rather loudly as Wufei doubled over with laughter. They were coming pretty much the same route Quatre and Zechs had.

The quiet that had fallen around the hanger faded away after a hesitant moment—well, quiet aside from Wufei.

Jinli lunged at the other Asian, and Wufei actually took off...and Jinli was after him just as fast.

Duo and Qingfu, who were both laughing happily, moved to join the group as...Wufei moved for Trowa.

"Hey!" Trowa protested as the man caught him around the waist with one arm...and turned into his back. He was all but giggling as he pressed his face into Trowa, and Jinli stopped in front of them with an obviously frustrated yowl.

"What are you doing?" Heero asked in amusement as Wufei kept giggling.

"Your...comrades...have some...untoward...patterns of speech," Qingfu noted hesitantly, though he was still grinning. "There was something said about consummating...and Duo's mouth. I'm...not sure I followed the full implications."

Heero giggled himself.

Qingfu gave Trowa a hopeful look.

"Duo evidently...has a very good mouth?" Trowa looked from Heero to Quatre for confirmation. "I'm not sure how Fei and Jin consummating plays into it..."

Wufei squeezed him, calming in his laughter...and leaning into him.

Trowa looked over his shoulder, but Wufei hadn't pulled away at all.

"It's been an ongoing conversation for the last hour," Jinli explained dryly. "But mostly they were just hinting at things back and forth around me."

Trowa grinned at him.

"They did it in ways that I couldn't rightly argue," the man added, crossing his arms and settling into the circle. "I got tired of it."

Qingfu grinned.

"We found Obsidian," Duo offered, looking around. "We put a trace on it and reported it to the ESA."

"They're putting my application to the question," Quatre noted, looking around. "No matter how my personal bid turns out, we're all going to become lieutenant generals."

"Oh _great_," Qingfu muttered, rolling his eyes. "As if you psychos weren't powerful enough."

"What are you going to do if I become a general?" Quatre demanded.

"Marvel at the pretty stars," Qingfu retorted. "I will, anyway, when you hop from one star to three and skip the two-stage."

Quatre grinned at him, looking around.

"Doesn't that mean I can order more people around?" Matty asked happily, then turned to Blake. "_Do_ it, seriously."

"I don't want to have to divorce to break up with him," Blake retorted.

Trowa made a wry face, meeting eyes with Duo.

"But you can't _really_ tell people what to do," Matty protested. "The lower ranks are all content enough to, but the people we'll be dealing with after this will be...less inclined."

"After this should be _after_ this war," Blake retorted. "We were given a deadline for that..."

"We," Trowa noted sidelong to Wufei, who'd popped his head over Trowa's right shoulder—his left arm, though, was still wrapped around Trowa's waist. "What are you doing?" he added to his friend pointedly.

Wufei gave him an interested look, pressing his face into Trowa's back again...then somehow slid under Trowa's left arm.

Trowa blinked at him.

"Are you coming to bed tonight?" Blake asked curiously.

Wufei shrugged. "Depends on my mood."

Qingfu guffawed.

Trowa, though, had a sneaking suspicion Wufei meant it.

. . . he didn't have to have that conversation with him, did he?

"You smell interesting," Jinli muttered, moving closer and leaning into Trowa. "I don't know what, though."

"Oil," Wufei returned.

"No, there's something else," Jinli, evidently, had forgotten that they were bickering with each other as he moved around to Trowa's right side, still sniffing at him.

"And...no one...will help me?" Trowa appealed to the others.

"This isn't normal?" Zechs asked curiously.

Heero snickered.

Jinli raised his hand after a moment, squeezing at Trowa's upper arm.

"I'm not game for an orgy," Blake informed Heero.

"Oh, but it's fun," Heero argued back at him.

Trowa opened his mouth to retort that Heero had never, but Jinli pressed a hand against his peck. "Now, _damn_ it!" he protested, pulling away from the inspection. "Quit now..."

Jinli pulled his hand away, looking startled, then tilted his head as he considered Wufei.

Wufei pulled away himself, shrugging slightly as he looked back to the others.

"Jaden is talking to the ESA coordinator," Qingfu added, looking them all over. "It's about supper time, so we figured the whole lot of us should just head up to our suite and talk things out while we eat. If you'd rather, though, you can just come up."

"I need my man," Duo noted, looking them all over.

Quatre raised his hand in mock hesitance.

"Not _you_," Duo retorted. "My _other_ man."

Quatre flicked his hair. "I'm leaving you," he noted.

"Why don't we go to the room and talk about that," Duo stated happily. "And after I've had my...say...we can see where you stand."

Quatre snickered, looking around. "I haven't seen him in a few days."

"What?" Heero asked blankly, thinking the exchange over.

"Robbs," Qingfu explained. "A spy-boy that infiltrated Rab and followed us when we threw our civil war."

"Oh," Heero nodded as his mind placed the term. "He's here?" he added, looking around. "Where?"

"I haven't seen him in a few days," Quatre noted happily.

"I didn't think he saw so well with the lights out," Blake noted happily to Lu.

"I'm official," Lu retorted to him, sticking her tongue out. "I have to make serious conversation."

Matty snickered.

"That's like, 'hush, children, the adults are talking', isn't it?" Blake appealed to his friend.

"Horribly. They can fuck us all night, but when it comes to..."

"If you have something to add," Heero noted happily, "you can say it," he patted Matty's head.

Matty swatted at him.

"Why are we not getting anything done?" Zechs asked in mild confusion. "I thought we were like, all official and shit."

"And we were all sleeping over on Illicit because we were helping mount the weaponry," Heero retorted. "Jaden totally kidnapped us on accident."

Zechs stared at him.

"He didn't remember we were on the ship until the pause for atmosphere-boost," Duo added happily.

"Shh," Qingfu hissed at him. "He'll beat you soundly for telling."

Duo snickered wickedly.

Zechs scratched as his chin as he considered that, then nodded and shrugged. "You know?" he muttered. "It sort of figures."

* * *

There was something about the five men that was markedly different from when they'd left to 25...and adding in Lucretzia Noin and the forsaken Lightning Count, and a situation was created that Jaden would rather avoid. The idea of having all seven of them, plus Matty, Blake, and Jinli in his personal apartment for a professional meeting boded about as well as a rigged game of Russian Roulette.

He shook his head as he moved down to the civilian layer of the craft.

He, Duo, and Wufei had worked out a plan of secure contacts on 25 to relay spot messages to the proper authorities. It had served to Jaden's logic to send Matty and Blake...and Jinli himself. The three of them were neutral enough for what Jaden wanted accounted for, but Duo and Wufei had disagreed.

It had to be someone from Illicit.

Jaden stopped, blinking at the lobby area in front of him.

The man he was looking for was a nineteen-year-old named Varner. He, like many of the older teens on the ship, had decided the children needed more tending than free-run of the halls. Specifically, gathering the children made it possible to put the secure-code on the area where the children would be. That code would make it impossible for any MS to attack that area of the ship. If there was even a slight chance the area could be hit, the firing mechanism would shut down.

. . . the lobby was filled with boxes.

"Mr. President?"

Jaden looked up, blinking at the Robbs boy. He'd originally known the kid as Maron Clint, and had found out when Duo'd shown up that he was actually a first-ops kid named Clint Robbs. Duo was looking for him...so of course, Jaden found him.

"Captain!" Varner rose from the box he was near. "What's up?"

"What...is this?" Jaden asked blankly as his mind worked things out better. The lobby area was strewn with refrigerator and ration boxes. There were whole boxes spread through the thing...and a lot of flattened out ones.

"A maze," Robbs explained.

"Supreme is _here?_" a little boy asked in an excited tone. "He's really..." the sound of the motion changed and both Robs and Varner focused down.

The kid started crying.

Jaden blinked as a second cry started, watching as the two men both darted down to the children.

A maze? Of cardboard?

Well, the kids seemed happy enough, running around through it or hiding in the forts. They were like cats like that...a box was their favorite toy.

He grinned a bit, starting into the maze opening and starting to wind through it. Little children peaked out at him and squealed in delight as they crawled away...and older kids looked up at him with bright happy eyes...before darting away.

It took him a while to realize they were trying to stay out from under his feet.

"Uh...there's...a path around," Robbs noted when the children had calmed. Jaden was mired halfway into the maze, of course, but he was letting him know.

Jaden gave him a look.

"This way!" a cute little blond girl muttered, starting down another path—when he took a step after her...the children _squealed_ in delight...and scattered. They were all telling him which way to go, and he stopped utterly as the blond he'd been following doubled over in deep belly giggles.

Wow.

"Uh...Captain?" Varner asked hesitantly. "You can step over the walls."

The helpful children broke into giggles and protests at that—evidently he was supposed to go through it right if he was going at all. It sounded like a rule, and Jaden was torn. He wanted the kids to follow the rules that were set...but...

"You all got him lost," Varner retorted to the little boy. "Not only that, but he can step over it all without ruining it, which none of you little shorties can manage."

That brought more happy giggles.

Jaden almost sighed as he started to carefully step over the things.

"_Giant!_" one girl squealed...and mock screams of terror came from the area...as, evidently, he smooshed a farm-house.

He grinned, walking at one of the little girls who laughed delightedly and squealed as she ran away.

All in all, taking that few moments to play with the children helped clear his mind remarkably well. It took him a bit to clear the maze, and by the time he did, the two men were giving him interested looks.

"You're wanted by Marquise or Maxwell or...Wong-Chang," he noted to Robbs. "One of that lot...and you're wanted by me," he added to Varner.

"What's wrong?" Varner asked instantly.

"Nothing is wrong," Jaden reassured him. "We're starting our plans and want to ask the pair of you—though you might get orders," he added to Robbs. "We're meeting up in the captain's suite to eat, so if you both could come up in about...a half hour, it would be appreciated."

"Of course, Varner muttered, looking startled. "Uh...I'll have to find someone else to..." he gestured to the kids, who were going on about hunting giants.

Jaden nodded. "That's fine...I'd just appreciate it if it was the shorter end of an hour."

"Right," he muttered, nodding his head.

"I'll go tag out to Jenny," Robbs muttered. "And let Evanie know you're needed."

Varner nodded, then smiled at his captain.

Jaden nodded, turning to follow Robbs as the guy led the way _around_ the maze. Some of the kids were giggling as they spotted him, and darting to hide.

"I think this stupid maze is the best idea any of us has come up with yet," Robbs muttered as they started back for the less civilian section of the civilian section. "There's some architect girl running around, and she was drawing up mazes on paper—and the kids all cooed about wishing they could _really_ play in a maze. Leave it to the kids, huh?"

Jaden nodded at that.

"Hey," the guy stopped before his turn off. "They're gonna be thrilled that you went through the maze...that was fun of you. You might think about...interacting more with the non-military portions. Families decided to follow you, not just soldiers."

Jaden made a wry face and nodded at that, watching the young man disappear. He turned, though, meeting eyes with a passing woman.

The only problem with that was the fact that they weren't sure when Rab would make his move...and they had to be ready when that time came. For now, at least, he didn't have the time to shake hands and kiss babies. He'd have to see to that...when they weren't part of a war.

Une had given the pilots a month...they could wait that long, right?


	4. Four

**Four**

"Three weeks and counting," Duo noted, looking them all over as he set his bowl down. "We found Obsidian, how's Heavyarms?"

"Fine," Trowa shrugged. "I was making sure the area around the oxygen tank was in order."

"Check Deathscythe for me," Duo instructed. "And Demigod...and Quatre's."

"Let's call it Lame," Quatre suggested.

Duo grinned at him.

"Alright," Trowa agreed, shifting back to cross his arms.

"I want you to try and hack Obsidian," Duo added to Heero easily. "Go all Mad-Max on that machine," he pointed in a seemingly random direction. "I want oxygen levels, water levels, crews and communication."

Heero nodded.

"What about me, boss?" Wufei asked curiously.

"I don't know...be all bad-Asian-movie at it," Duo retorted, giving him a look.

Qingfu's eyebrows shot up.

"I will avenge my comrades!" Wufei offered instantly, actually managing a Chinese accent as he nodded to his friends and made a fist.

Jinli smacked a hand to his face.

"My ancestors will laugh in the face of my enemy!" Wufei added brightly, shaking the fist in the air.

Duo and Heero started laughing.

"Wow," Jaden muttered, staring at Wufei.

"I was gonna do the kung-fu pose stuff," Wufei offered to him, "but I didn't want to stand up."

Trowa snickered.

"I'll set up the relay with 25," Quatre noted, raising his hand. "What will you be doing?" he asked Wufei.

Wufei tilted his head at him. "Burning incense?"

Jinli hunched forward.

Quatre half-giggled. "No, really..."

"I'm not sure yet," Wufei noted, sitting back as he thought. "I suppose I could help with the suit maintenance—I mean, Demigod _is_ mine."

"Help me," Heero suggested. "You'll just get in Tro's way if you go tailing after him. Besides, I don't think he appreciates your fetish with him when he's playing mechanic."

Trowa smirked at that.

Wufei rolled his eyes.

"Talk with Illicit's men," Matty suggested.

"Illicit men?" Wufei asked, focusing back on him. "How would you know about them?"

Qingfu groaned, leaning forward.

Matty snickered, glancing at Blake a moment before shaking his head.

"What, now?" Heero protested.

"Nothing!" the pair chirped in stereo.

"I just think someone with us should go make sure the soldiers here understand how we move!" Matty added brightly.

Heero's eyebrows arched.

"It's not like we were wandering around with Cardle last night," Blake agreed.

"Oh, that," Heero gestured the information away, looking back to Jaden and Qingfu. "That sound like a plan to you?"

"I thought _you_ were the leader," Jaden muttered to Heero uncertainly.

"Leader?" Heero repeated, giving him a confused look. "I'm...Zero-One, yeah...but that's just because I attacked first."

"I think it's more because you're an asshole," Zechs shrugged, not meeting eyes.

"I thought you didn't like _Duo_," Matty protested that.

Zechs met his eyes, startled.

"What part of him searching me out to sit with his wife so he could sleep suggested that?" Duo asked blankly. "Before Quatre, I'd have gladly ran off with Lu, but Zechs never _really_ wanted to leave her—for all that he was too stupid to admit it."

"We're engaged now," Zechs shot back in a mature fashion.

"And we're getting off topic," Jaden cut in quickly.

"You're married," Wufei noted.

Lu started giggling.

"She's not very good at being intimidating when she's giggling," Trowa noted, leaning sidelong at Qingfu. "You ever notice that? She was a big bad-ass during the wars, but now she's so besotted with him," he gestured at Zechs, "that she can't think straight when he's close to her, or when he's far away."

Lu laughed at that.

"We're...getting off topic," Jaden hazarded again.

"Nonsense," Quatre made a dismissive gesture. "Duo told us all what to do, so as soon as you say yes, we'll go do it. Everything else is just shootin' the breeze."

Jaden looked at him.

"I thought _you_ were in charge," Qingfu noted to the brunette.

"When we're fighting," Quatre shrugged. "And then it's not even so much 'in charge'," he made air-quotes, "as 'suggesting' what to do."

"Or telling us we're fucking idiots when we ignore you," Wufei shrugged.

"You were _being_ a fucking idiot," Quatre retorted.

They grinned at each other.

"What am I supposed to do?" Jaden asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know, Supreme Ruler of the good ship Illicit," Duo muttered slowly. "What _are_ you supposed to do?"

Jaden met his eyes levelly.

Qingfu snickered at that, running a hand through his hair as he thought. "I'd like to observe you, if I may," he muttered to Heero. "I've come up against you and lost enough that I'm not gonna bother anymore—fuckin' Mad-Max...I hate you, you know."

Heero laughed at that.

"You didn't realize he's Mad-Max?" Duo asked blankly.

Qingfu rolled his eyes.

"What are _you_ going to be doing?" Wufei muttered, looking Duo over.

"Wing-man and coordinator," he indicated Jaden. "We need Heero and Wufei to get in first, then they can give the rest of us the plan..."

"Actually, we need the suits checked first," Heero pointed out. "Because then we can just send you to run."

"He has a mouse in his pocket," Lu noted, leaning into Zechs briefly.

"Do you think normal military leaders are like this?" Blake appealed to Jinli.

"It'd be a little anticlimactic, wouldn't it?" the Asian man muttered. He sighed, rising to his feet and falling into one of his stances. "To the battle stations!"

Matty started laughing.

* * *

Jaden felt horribly inadequate.

He climbed up the stairs of a riser surrounding the suit they all had actually _started_ to call "Lame" and met eyes with Matty.

Trowa, it seemed, was deep inside the suit's works. Heero had a lap-desk sitting over his lap, and Matty was leaning into the man's right shoulder. Qingfu was on the left, watching what Heero was doing with a clipboard in hand. The thing was covered in the man's tiny script, and after a brief moment of not understanding what he was seeing, he realized it was kanji.

"How's it going?" Jaden muttered, moving to bend over and kiss Qingfu briefly.

"I'm working through their encoding," Heero shrugged.

"Took him all of five minutes to get in," Qingfu agreed dryly. "He wrote his own fucking script," he showed Jaden the clipboard. "It's like...putting a puzzle together."

Heero flashed him a grin. "That is what encoding is, isn't it?"

Qingfu gave him a look.

"He has more security than I expected," Heero offered, looking back to Jaden...then Matty.

"I totally fell asleep until I heard someone saluting you," Matty noted, looking around to Jaden as well.

"You heard someone salute?" Qingfu asked blankly.

Matty blinked back at him, then sat back to look at Heero.

"Quatre will be happy," Heero agreed, looking back to the screen.

"I'm gonna tell him!" Matty proclaimed, sliding out from under the other's arm. "Where is he?"

"He was up on deck," Jaden offered.

"Alright!" Matty agreed happily, and darted off down the riser.

"Wasn't he...not supposed to be alone?" Qingfu asked blankly.

"Cardle will follow him in a second," Heero shrugged. "If he's feeling confident enough to run off by himself, I don't want to stop him."

Qingfu nodded, then sat back and started rubbing at his hands. "I think my brain went numb from trying to figure out how that shit works," he indicated the laptop.

"You made that program, right?" Jaden asked, looking to Heero. "The supplement to Pax that kept us out of Matt's phone?"

Heero nodded his agreement as he focused back on the machine. "I call it Pan. I incorporated everything I wanted in a program into it."

"Offense and defense," Jaden agreed dryly. "If Matt got close enough, you could use the sensors to fuckin' infect a console, couldn't you?"

Heero stopped, meeting Jaden's eyes as he thought. A wicked grin flashed across his face, and he snatched the clipboard out of Qingfu's hand. It took him a brief moment to have Qingfu's page torn off, and he was writing quickly...unlike Qingfu, though, he was actually doing the top to bottom lines instead of the left-to-right.

"Hey," Qingfu whispered, leaning over to look. "I promise there are spaces between words."

Heero laughed at that, shifting his shoulder so the man backed off. He stopped a second later, then scribbled something out and wrote another set next to it, then frowned as he studied the end-product.

"I wonder if that's why I'm having problems with it," Qingfu muttered dryly.

"No, I type it all up in English when I do it—this is just to confuse people if they come across it. Duo and Wufei can work out what I mean, but it _is_ just for me."

"You...hadn't thought of using a worm-launcher?" Jaden asked dryly.

"No, but that's awesome," Heero returned, smiling brightly up at him.

Jaden covered his face with his hands.

Qingfu snickered.

"...mm...right," Heero muttered finally, tearing the sheet off and folding it up. "Sorry about that," he passed the clipboard back to Qingfu. "And line three of that is wrong," he pointed at the other sheet. "About a third of the way in."

Qingfu blinked at him, then looked down to his paper. "You said..."

Heero reached over and made another character above the one there.

"Oh," Qingfu blinked at it. "Can't I just do it in English?"

"Not if you want me to show you anything cool," Heero retorted.

"You done playing yet?" Trowa demanded, leaning out the hole in the machine to look at them with interest. "Where's Matty?"

"He went running that way," Heero returned, gesturing vaguely at the rest of the ship. "Where you at?"

"I'm checking the general works of this one," Trowa shrugged. "I know Heavyarms is fine, and trust that Duo took care of Deathscythe—we've all been working on Demigod, but Lame didn't start with us. It seems fine, so you can call me out any time and it'll take me ten minutes to close'er up. That's the same time it'd take to fill her tanks."

Heero nodded, starting to type again.

"Uh..." Qingfu muttered.

"He just got serious," Trowa noted, grinning at them. "You okay, Cap'n?"

Jaden nodded, waving the man away as he rubbed at his face.

In all of ten minutes they'd had the foundation of a plan laid out, and Jaden still didn't know what he _should_ do. He could move closer to Obsidian, or he could dock briefly at 25...he could keep hovering, or start a pattern...

"What is wrong?" Heero asked, glancing up at him. "You seem a little...turned-off."

"I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and ask you what I should do," Jaden returned, looking tiredly up at him.

"What you should do?" Heero echoed. "Like...how?"

Jaden gestured at Illicit.

"Oh," Heero blinked, thinking about it. "What's our oxygen like?"

"Well, not full," Jaden returned, tilting his head. "The water could use a refresher, too."

"So...dock? Resupply?"

"But that'll take us away from Obsidian," Jaden pointed out.

"We can deal with a ten-minute longer flight instead of asphyxiating five-thousand some-odd people," Heero pointed out.

Jaden looked to Qingfu, thinking about that.

Heero shrugged, focusing back down on the machine.

"How can you say what to do and not care that I'm not?" Jaden asked blankly.

"It's your ship," Heero pointed out. "And when it comes down to it, you'll do what you need to do for your people—I don't need you jumping at my orders. I need you to continue _not_ pissing me off, because my boyfriend was really happy that we can talk civilly to each other."

"You're only being nice to me because you got laid," Jaden accused.

Heero flashed him a smirk. "I could think of more appropriate reasons for the courts if I had to—but basically."

Jaden looked to the riser above them.

Heero laughed, the same youthful look crossing his face as Duo would get...but he went back to work.

"And me?" Qingfu asked.

"Uh..." Heero pulled away from the machine to look at him. "You're...cute?"

Qingfu gave him a look.

Heero laughed wickedly, glancing up at Jaden...and focused again.

Jaden smiled at his lover and shrugged. "The man has taste."

Heero met his eyes, something dark crossing his expression...before he went back to work.

Jaden considered Qingfu's happy-but-exasperated expression, then rose to his feet. "I'm gonna go change our course."

"Let Duo know that I'll be in...in about five minutes," Heero muttered, looking up. "He should come down soon."

* * *

Wufei was amused at the number of people who were clustered around him, nodding at the man who was talking to him. Duo was nearby with a similar gathering. For some reason, the younger set had started to approach Wufei, but shied off—possibly it was the uniform. They'd hung back and started talking to Duo while the older and more mature men did approach.

So...he had their respect, and a healthy bit of intimidation.

He didn't know why. He'd been horsing around Jinli since this had all started; there was no way everyone had missed that.

"Um...G...Brigadier General Chang?"

Wufei turned to the young man who almost seemed to be shaking—his hand very much wanted to raise in salute.

"Um...the...the president asked...me to tell you...that Brigadier Yuy...he's almost...almost in."

Okay, no matter who you were, that was cute.

"Thank you," Wufei returned, nodding his head.

"Right," the kid half-squeaked, saluting him briefly before darting across the room.

"He saluted," the man Wufei'd been talking to noted. "I'm impressed."

Wufei smiled at that, offering his hand to the man. "Excuse me, please. I'm needed."

"Thank you for your time, Brigadier," the man noted, saluting him casually. "Right?"

"Right," Wufei agreed in amusement, nodding to the rest of the group as he fell back to join Duo.

"Right?" Duo asked quietly when they'd made the hall.

"Right," Wufei agreed just as.

Duo flashed him a grin.

"Did you get the salute?"

"He saluted you?" Duo drew himself up in mock outrage. "I feel gypped!"

Wufei snickered. "He was stuttering, too."

Duo looked around them carefully, then back to the room they'd left.

"Huh?"

"I just expected karma to make us'er bitch for talking shit."

Wufei laughed at that...and tripped.

* * *

"Excuse me, Brigadier General Winner," a quiet woman's voice muttered as she moved up beside the machine with Cardle at her side. "I have a message for you from the president."

"Supreme ruler," Matty corrected.

The woman smiled at him.

"Alright, just a moment," Quatre turned back to the vid. "I'll talk to the people here about this, and contact you again as soon as I can."

"Alright, Brigadier," the man muttered, saluting him. "Good day."

"You, too," Quatre agreed, returning the salute. He disconnected, looking back to the woman.

"The president said that Brigadier Yuy was almost in," she noted. "At the time, he'd given a five-minute warning, unfortunately the president was somewhat waylaid, and I'm afraid it has been that five minutes."

"Ah," Quatre slid off the stool. "Thank you. I appreciate your help."

She smiled, nodding her head at him.

"Emily?" Matty hazarded.

"Um, Miss Thane takes political issue with the situation and has returned to menial duty. I'm a civilian. My name is Tanya Janner."

Matty smiled, shaking the hand she'd offered. "I'm Matt Williams-Yuy."

"It's nice to meet you."

"And you," Matty agreed.

"Matty," Quatre muttered...and disappeared from the room.

Matty gave Cardle an exasperated sort of look and nodded his head to the woman. He turned, darting after the other as Cardle half-strolled along behind.

"What were you doing in there, anyway?" Quatre asked when Matty had caught up.

"I heard someone salute Jaden and it woke me up from a nap."

Quatre blinked as he thought about that, then turned a grin onto Matty. "That's good, what was the range?"

"I was sitting with Heero on the risers around Lame," Matty supplied. "It was the entrance."

Quatre's eyebrows shot up. "That _is_ impressive."

"I think it was more like an echo," Matty returned, thinking about it. "I was used to what was around."

"We'll see," Quatre returned. "With what you tell me about my searching for you from LA, you might be considerably stronger, once you've been trained."

Matty frowned at that, then smiled and shrugged.

Quatre flashed him another grin, and they started to walk faster.

* * *

"Wong-Chang? Kiardane?"

Blake turned to the man who was slowing near them.

"Sorry," the man bowed slightly. "I was asked to let you know that the Brigadiers are meeting."

"Oh, thank you," Blake muttered, stepping forward to rest a hand on Jinli's arm.

Jinli turned to look at him as the man walked away, then nodded slightly. "Now?"

"Yeah," Blake agreed. "We should go."

"Right, excuse me," Jinli moved away from the people he'd been talking with. They'd been trying to find people who would benefit from talking with Wufei or Duo.

"Anything useful?" Jinli muttered as they moved through the halls.

"I won a game of spider," Blake offered, showing him the shooting 3-D fireworks over his clipboard.

Jinli stared at the display a long moment, then met his eyes. "I hate you."

Blake laughed happily at that, ending the display.

* * *

Rab ran his hand through his hair as he moved into the master suite of Obsidian. He was tired of being alone, and had never realized _how_ alone he was until he'd lost Jaden and Ranger. Sure, there were a couple willing girls in the people he had left, but he didn't have any _companions_...he didn't have anyone he could suggest his ideas to and get feedback from.

They were running out of oxygen and water...and there was no way they could make it back through the atmosphere. He had to think of _something_ to do, and he doubted his ship could take on an actual colony for resources—not one that was normally inhabited.

Rabid stopped at that thought, turning to look in the direction of 27.

Could they do it? Could they reenter that colony? From all accounts he'd received, the colony was empty and loosely patrolled.

They could take on a partial force.

He moved over to sit on the bed in his room, laying backwards to think the notion through.

Could they do that? It would be far too obvious if he just headed for the colony outright, though. Maybe a diversion?

It was an interesting idea. He could send out a portion of his suits to attack a poorly defended colony, probably L-4. There were a few L-4 colonies that favored pacifism...like 22.

A wicked smile crossed Rab's face as he rolled onto his side.

The colony D17622 was notable for several reasons—one of which was being the home colony of one very prominent family.

The Winner family.

What he wouldn't _give_ to see Brigadier-_fucking_ Winner's face when he found out his home colony was being attacked. It would be too precious to pass up.

He started laughing wickedly, rolling onto his back again, then pushed himself up and looked around his room.

He needed to find his men.

* * *

Heero snickered as Rab's men started muttering to each other. The man himself had left, and after they were all sure he was gone, small groups of them started huddling around the various consoles to talk.

"He has _no_ fucking idea what he's doing," one woman muttered darkly. "Why did we come back out to space? We were doing alright on Earth, and our resources were _fine_," she tapped something on the console she was near.

"I can't believe he's such an asshole," another man was saying off in another area. "He expects us to _follow_ him like this?"

"I'm starting to think we should have taken off with J," another man said quietly.

Jaden sneered, looking around to Qingfu.

"What?" Qing asked quietly.

"That was Sorvid," Jaden explained quietly. "Fair-weather friend, all the way."

"One of yours?" Qing asked blankly.

"No, but he was in the original group with Ranger and Rab. We were associated for a time."

Qingfu nodded.

"Did you forget the bit where J works for _them_ now?" a woman demanded darkly.

"Nothing is coming of the bitching," Matty muttered, meeting eyes with Blake. "You notice that? They complain that he has no idea what he's doing, but none of them seem to either."

"Ooh, someone seems to see me," Heero purred, petting the side of his laptop as something flashed on one of his read-outs. "I wonder who it is."

"Guys?" someone asked.

"Gene," Qingfu supplied instantly. "Total PC-nerd...hacking, programming, paranoid delusions...you know the type."

"They _are_ the type," Jinli muttered dryly.

"There's something weird on my read-outs," the guy continued. "I can't make it out, but watch your screens."

Heero smirked, typing something into the little black box he had open.

"Like what?" someone called back.

"I don't know," the guy muttered tiredly. "I thought it was something, but..."

"And the paranoid bit steps in so he's dismissed," Jaden noted in amusement. "Is it bad that I always kept an eye on stuff he said to?'

"I don't imagine," Heero muttered in amusement. "If he's so good..." he looked around to Qingfu. "He better'n you?"

"PC," Qingfu shot back. "_Personal_ computer. He doesn't do the military-grade shit we run. Hell, I barely run the military-grade shit _you_ run. I'm half convinced you worked out a program that could change a person's mind."

"Only if it was hooked up to a machine," Heero retorted.

Duo sniggered. "Bullshit."

Heero flashed him a grin.

"Though he was telling us not to touch Matt's phone right-off," Jaden pointed out, giving the younger male a sour look. "A valid warning, if I recall."

"It totally took your prints," Matty agreed happily. "I _totally_ had your name, rank, birth-date and social security...all of it."

Jaden turned his sour look onto Heero.

"What?" Heero asked curiously. "When you get all the way down to it, _he_ did it," he indicated Duo.

Jaden blinked at that. "What?"

"I bought him Pax and added Pan," Duo shrugged. "He didn't have it, and it's one of those basic security measures I can't stand not-having. If I hadn't had Pan, Gerrange would totally have had my phone."

"Should we put Pan on them?" Heero asked his friend seriously, indicating the other leaders with his head.

"It's a thought," Duo returned. "But I don't think it's necessary."

"But we could always find them."

"I think we could do that anyway," Duo suggested, glancing almost obliquely at the pair.

Qingfu looked around to Matty pointedly.

"Okay...I'm not sure what that look means," Matty muttered, indicating the man to Quatre.

"I think it means 'make them stop'," Quatre suggested. "But I'm not sure either."

Duo and Heero smiled happily at the leaders.

"So...I'm going to go forward this report to base," Quatre noted, then blinked as he saw Blake's clipboard. "Oh look," he added, snatching it from him.

"Hey!" Blake protested, reaching after it.

"I won't lose your game," Quatre retorted, flicking through the virtual screens.

"You were playing spider?" Qingfu protested at him.

"He's _been_," Jin agreed dryly.

The icon of a piece of paper popped up to the zenith of the 3-D limit, a stupidly happy little tune playing as they all blinked up at it blankly.

"I got a message," Blake chirped, amused to see their confused looks.

"That's cool," Matty muttered, bouncing slightly. "Show me?"

Blake nodded.

". . . I sleep with you," Trowa muttered blankly, focusing on his lover.

Blake started giggling, leaning over to kiss him briefly, then stopped—still half-bent—and tilted his head at Zechs.

"You...sleep with him," Zechs noted to the pair, blinking a few times. "You have sex with him...dear lord, Trowa, you're gay."

Trowa _focused_ on the man.

"Uh..." Lu sat back, blinking a few times. "What he means to say is..."

Blake snickered, leaning back where he sat. "I'm just that good."

"I'm curious," Jaden muttered, shifting back tiredly himself. "Why is that shocking?"

"Blake is the only male I've ever been with," Trowa shrugged. "The only males I've _noticed_ are him and Matty—and I think I must've had some bad mushrooms that day."

Matty snickered as Jaden gave him a confused look. "I evidently have a kissing mouth and deep eyes...my hair..."

Trowa kicked him.

Matty laughed more, shrugging at the other man.

"You were noticing him _before_ that," Wufei pointed out, rolling his eyes as he looked around. "I'm not saying more, but you were."

"...and...acknowledged," Quatre noted, messing more with the clipboard. "I'm only with Duo because he's such a caring and considerate friend."

Duo snickered.

They _all_ looked at him.

"I am," Quatre smiled at them all, then tossed the clipboard back to Blake. "Thanks for that."

"Whatever gets it done," Blake agreed, standing and stretching.

Trowa tilted his head to consider the other's body.

"Trowa," Quatre muttered happily.

Trowa ignored him as Blake tried to lean back as far as possible, then turned slightly to try and touch the floor without bending his knees.

"Troooowa," Quatre said again.

Trowa grinned, but continued watching his lover.

"I'm pretty sure they'll get something done eventually," Lu hazarded happily to Jaden.

Jaden grinned, pulling his eyes away from Blake as well. "Hm?"

Qingfu punched his arm.

Trowa's eyes moved instantly and levelly to Jaden.

"Hm?" Jaden repeated. "I didn't say anything."

Blake started giggling, and dropped back down to his seat.

"I've set up the recording," Heero noted to them all with evident interest. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing," Matty informed Blake more than Heero.

Heero smirked.

"Hm?" Blake asked sweetly. "I didn't do anything."


	5. Five

**Five**

"His suits are moving!" Jaden's voice came across all channels. "A team of ten moving toward the L-2 system!"

Duo, Trowa, and Wufei bolted for the door as Blake cried out. Trowa stopped short at the sound, turning quickly...to kiss Blake. He stared into his eyes for a long second, then turned to disappear.

"We'll be fine," Quatre reassured Blake, patting his shoulder as he started for the door. "I promise."

Blake made a noise after him, but Quatre ignored it.

"Come on," Heero muttered, leading them from the room quickly. "We can get suits and hop on a transport."

"Can't _I_ get a suit?" Jinli demanded irritably as they stormed through the halls.

"If you joined the military," Heero agreed, trying to keep himself from running.

"I'm married to Wufei," Jinli protested.

"And you're an _adorable_ couple," Heero agreed dryly.

Jinli snorted at him.

Heero flashed him a grin, and...vaulted the railing.

"_Damn_ it," Matty called after him, turning to run down the stairs. That released Blake, and he ran for it himself.

Jinli rolled his eyes, looking to the ceiling, then followed the pair.

By the time the three of them made it into the ship, Heero was throwing suits at them. Jinli started pulling his outfit on, watching as Heero paused to help Matty, then Blake. By the time they'd all got suited up, the machine was already moving, and Matty fell backwards against Jinli.

"Sorry," the teen muttered.

"It's fine," Heero reassured him as Jin nodded. "Grab something, we're gonna get jostled."

"Huh?" Jinli asked blankly...as something _big_ hit the ship...or at least, it felt like it. The ship lurched sickeningly toward one side...

"Don't lo..." Heero started.

"_Shit!_" Matty muttered, pressing his hands to his eyes as a disgustingly bright light moved by the window on the side.

"Deathscythe," Heero explained, moving forward to hug Matty. "Heavyarms and Demigod should be about a second..." the ship lurched again, almost seeming to bounce.

"I think they're trying to attach together," Heero muttered dryly.

"But what about..."

"I think that Lame and the rest of Jaden's stuff will be a little...later, like after the ship is out. I don't think many men would be happy if anything but a gundam did a fly-through like that."

"Isn't it dangerous?" Jinli asked nervously.

"It could be, if the ship got jostled too hard," Heero agreed, pulling back to study Matty's eyes. "But that's what I'm saying—I know the gundams have enough handling to do a slide-through of that small a gap. I assume Demigod is, too, if it was that close to Heavy. What do you see?"

"Um...you...sort of. It's like, a halo of you."

"Your sight will settle down in a little bit. Come on, we should go up front."

"I _hate_ this," Blake muttered, moving to cling to Jinli's arm. "I feel so...useless and scared."

"Heavyarms is a good machine," Jinli reminded him. "It'll be fine."

"But I don't know that for sure until it's over," Blake muttered, pressing his eyes against the man's upper-arm.

Heero flashed a very slight grin back at Jinli.

There was a loud sound, and Heero looked toward the wall as they moved.

"What was that?" Blake asked quickly.

"Lame and the rest," Heero shrugged. "I think that specific was Lame, so we could hear it."

"Quatre wanted to be sure," Matty agreed. "The floor _is_ clear, right?"

"Yes, we're fine," Heero reassured him. "I'm watching so you don't fall. What else did Quatre think?"

"I'm not sure, he just wanted us to know how far behind he was, I think."

"Can you tell anything else?"

Matty closed his eyes—they weren't doing him any good anyway—and concentrated. He could sense a nebulous something off in the distance, and that seemed red. Other than that...there was a white something on the other side...huge...the earth.

"Uh...I can feel the earth," Matty noted, opening his eyes and looking around. "Is that normal?"

"I have no idea," Heero noted quietly. "It's the sort of thing Quatre wouldn't mention."

"Hm," Matty shrugged. "Nothing distinct, really...just..."

"Let me know if you pick up on anything," Heero suggested. "Quatre knows you can feel him, so he may send stuff at you."

Matty nodded.

"You gonna be okay, Blake?" Heero added after a moment.

"I...should be fine," Blake said quietly. "I hope."

"You know, I almost envy Trowa the sex he's getting tonight," Heero muttered.

Blake tsked.

"What?" Jaden asked, turning to look at them from the laptop he had set up in front of him.

"Why are you out here?" Heero asked blankly.

"It's the first fight I'm fully committed to," Jaden retorted. "Why wouldn't I be out here?"

"I don't know," Heero muttered, still obviously confused. "I just..."

"I looked out the window," Matty informed the blond. "Do you know what I can see?"

"Well, nothing the shape of that window," Jaden suggested in amusement. "Why was Winner trying to run us over?"

"He wasn't, he wanted us sure how far behind he was," Matty moved slowly forward.

"There's a chair there," Jaden said quickly. "You're gonna hit it."

Matty stopped, reaching out for Heero.

Heero shook his head, guiding his friend into the seat.

"I've never had to share a take-off," the pilot muttered, turning to look at them over his shoulder. "I don't think I'm sleeping for a week from that adrenaline."

"It was all I could do to keep him from over-correcting," Jaden agreed with a smile. "Though I'm not trying to say I wasn't about to panic. Deathscythe scares the _shit_ out of me."

"It's supposed to," Jinli noted, moving around to sit in one of the two seats in front of Jaden's commander-seat.

Blake dropped into Jinli's lap.

Jinli blinked at him.

"It'll be okay," Jaden reassured the younger male seriously, leaning forward slightly so Blake could meet his eyes. "You'll see. Barton's in his war-machine. He knows when to retreat."

"When he runs out of bullets," Heero agreed dryly, looking between them all. He grinned, though, shaking his head. "And none of you get that."

"Huh?" Matty muttered, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes. "Get what?"

"There was a while in there where Trowa ran out of bullets in every battle he was in. We've flicked him about it ever since."

"What if he runs out now?" Blake asked, muted fear in his voice as he looked around to Heero.

"What sort of reassurance should I give him?" Heero asked blankly, looking around to Jaden.

Jaden blinked at him.

"If he runs out," Jinli suggested, bouncing his legs so Blake bounced too, "he'll just have to move forward to engage. The bullets are long-range, you know? No one will get close to him before he's empty. He has one of those beam-sabers, too. He'll be fine."

Blake nodded, thinking about that.

"I should see if he actually knows how to fight with one of those," Jinli added. "I'm sure me and Wufei can come up with some bokken. I know I wouldn't mind beating his ass down without actually killing him."

Blake snorted at that, looking away and shaking his head.

Jaden cast Heero another uncertain look, then focused back on Matty. "You see yet?"

"Better," Matty muttered, looking around. "The window seems to be far away now."

"I didn't warn in time," Heero made a face. "It's been a long time since the burn's been that close. I thought you'd be okay with Maxwell doing that," he added, raising his voice to the pilot.

"I thought I was until he was coming at me," the man noted in amusement. "Then that new one with Heavyarms..." he shuddered slightly.

"Demigod was leading?" Heero asked blankly. "That's...unexpected."

"I think Heavyarms was going to race him," Jaden noted dryly.

"You mean you think Trowa was trying to race Wufei," Heero corrected. "Not that Heavyarms was racing Demigod."

"What's the difference?" Jaden asked blankly, meeting his eyes.

"The gundams have a certain...AI," Heero shrugged. "That's why we don't have Zero or Sandrock. Those two can _think_, and that idea is terrifying."

Jaden closed his eyes tightly.

"What?" Heero asked blankly.

"Zero and...and Sandrock...weren't destroyed?" the pilot asked in a small voice. "What about Shenlong?"

Jinli looked away.

"Shenlong was destroyed," Heero reassured him. "We used that footage to engineer the rest. Zero and Sandrock are not destroyed."

"I...may be sick," Jaden informed them.

"What?" Heero asked, mildly alarmed.

"Anxiety," Matty explained quickly, blinking around on Heero. "It's bad enough to find Deathscythe and Heavyarms on the battlefield."

"So you have five suits again," the pilot whispered.

"Zero and Sandrock are utterly bereft of power," Heero offered. "We have no intentions of turning them on again. Ever."

The man nodded.

"Winner in that Taurus is bad enough," Jaden informed them, sliding down in his seat. "Why aren't you in a suit?" he asked, meeting Heero's eyes.

"I would be," Jinli noted dryly, "if there was one for me."

"Mine all have pilots," the man shrugged. "Get Chang to order you one."

"We can't," Heero retorted. "The suits that are available for refitting are tightly controlled, and an ace flier from any of the ESA bases would get priority over the espoused of one of us. The only way Jin could get a suit without causing total rioting would be for him to take on a prototype suit that would be in worse shape than Demigod."

"Worse shape?" Jaden repeated, staring at him blankly.

"Demigod has some bugs," Jinli noted in amusement. "Little things, like the directional controls freezing up in the middle of battle before sending the machine a mile or two in the wrong direction."

Jaden snorted at that, giving him another look.

"Oh yeah," Jinli agreed. "So Duo hid Deathscythe and wound through the jungle to find it—only took too long and got grabbed."

That made the other man rub at his face as he took a long slow breath.

"Do you have _any_ idea how much of this whole thing has been fluke?" Matty asked brightly, meeting Jaden's eyes. "Their very _involvement_ in this nonsense was utter chance."

"More circumstance," Heero corrected, grinning. "If you would have listened to me, you wouldn't have gotten grabbed."

"What?" Jaden asked, looking between them.

"I was going to 27 to hear some music," Matty explained wryly. "I wanted to hit the shops and catch a live—get away from my father since he was babysitting me."

"But..." Jaden started, thinking quickly.

"I tried to get the damn ship stopped in the port," Heero noted in amusement, looking to the ceiling. "The only problem was that our rank hadn't been put back on and the ESA knew _you_ fuckers were getting all stirred up."

Jaden met his eyes, then looked around to Jinli.

"We were visiting Quatre's family, too," Heero added. "We had to run for it when we got the news—we had the _easiest_ fucking time getting Fei into 25—you wouldn't believe it."

"What did you think of all that?" Jaden asked Jinli.

"I didn't know they were around," Jinli shrugged. "That was before Wufei contacted me again."

"So what, he show up on your doorstep and asks you to marry him?"

Jinli laughed at that, his expression going pensive as he looked out at the blackness beyond. "I hadn't seen Wufei...since before 207 was destroyed."

Jaden sobered instantly.

"We were best friends as kids, you know?" Jinli smiled slightly, looking back to the man. "Then he got all caught up in joining the Long family and marrying their daughter—and then she got killed," he went quiet a long moment. "And then...he was gone. I didn't realize he'd been picked as Shenlong's pilot until I started hearing the stories about the earth...well, that's not even true. I just knew _I_ wasn't picked."

Jaden's mouth fell open.

"I didn't mind, really," Jinli added quietly, looking back to him. "At the time I was a little miffed that they didn't think I was good enough, but I wanted to get my schooling done," he shook his head.

"You...could have...been a pilot?" the pilot asked, looking around to him in amazement.

"There were several of us," Jinli agreed with a shrug, he looked back to the stars. "There aren't many left now."

Blake wrapped his arms around Jinli's neck and shoulders, hugging him hard.

Jinli accepted that hug, taking a moment to gather his emotions. He swallowed. "When...it happened..." he turned his head back toward the group without looking at them. "I was away at boarding school and knew Wufei was fighting. I'd found all the others. It was...hard...and for the longest time I thought Wufei was dead, too."

"How did you find out he wasn't?" Jaden muttered.

"The news," Jinli shrugged. "The way the ranking went, friends in the military...all sorts of sources."

"What did he think about all of it?"

"I have no idea," Jinli met his eyes seriously. "I hadn't heard from, nor seen him, in person since before the colony. When he called me, Matty was there with him."

Jaden stared at him a long moment, then looked around to Heero.

"We couldn't get him to set foot on 25," Heero shrugged. "The survivor list was there—and since he was a survivor himself, he was entitled to some contact information. Matty helped convince him to call."

"I had...no idea," Jaden said quietly, looking back to Jinli. "I...are you two really lovers?"

Matty cackled as Blake covered his mouth with a hand.

"No," Jinli retorted dryly, shoving the younger male off his lap. "Not at all—not in the _slightest_..."

"They just sleep together," Heero offered happily.

Matty started giggling.

* * *

Attacking the MS wasn't as dramatic as some of the battles he'd been in, but Wufei had a slightly different worry. Demigod had never been properly practiced in the vacuum of space, and considering the unscheduled direction it had taken in the battle in Brazil, he was half-dreading the 'what if's his mind was so dutifully offering.

The one thing that kept him from panicking was the fact that Trowa had checked the oxygen.

Wufei dodged an attack, lashing out with the whip to neutralize the machine. It was sort of satisfying to feel the power as the whip wrapped the thing...but it wasn't like he was getting the chance to dwell.

So far, they'd taken out four of the machines, and Jaden's team were gathering those up. The message had gone out to the ESA, so there'd be a retrieval team to collect those soon enough.

"_Fei!_"

Wufei's attention flashed to the machine coming up on his right, but Quatre's shout hadn't been about that. He maneuvered the handy-dandy shield around to block the shot that had missed the Taurus.

"You need to go all _Heero_-like on'em, Fei," Trowa ordered.

Wufei blinked at his friend's screen, then realized that those little discs could be used offensively as well as defensively. He glanced over his controls, then hit the button to shoot them out...or at least, he thought it should.

Nothing happened.

"Fei?" Trowa demanded tightly.

"It's not..." he hit the button again, then swore and snapped the whip around the machine he was facing. He focused completely on the little shield-things...and snorted.

"What?" Quatre asked.

"I'm assuming they aren't meant to go flying anymore," Duo noted pointedly, slashing another machine.

"That would have been good to know _before_ fighting," Trowa hazarded.

"Thanks for the tip, Captain Obvious," Wufei shot back.

"Mm, no problem, Major Fuck-up."

Wufei grinned at that, sending the shield out to protect their back-up when a shot went for them.

"Sssnake-eyessss," Duo hissed happily...and...cut the top off the machine was facing.

"Duo," Quatre chided. "We're in space!"

"That shouldn't have _touched_ his oxygen supply," Duo shot back. "And even if it did, his suit should be fine."

"We're talking about _Gerrange_," Trowa reminded them. "**_Gerrange_**."

"Hm, good point," Duo agreed, reaching over and offering Deathscythe's hand.

Even as Quatre disabled the final machine, a man appeared from the ruined MS. He climbed into the gundam's hand, and hugged his arms around the thumb.

"Nice," Duo muttered. "I'll love him and squeeze him, and hug him, and..."

"Duo," Quatre warned.

Duo sniggered, turning back toward the transport shuttle.

The alarms went off shrilly in Wufei's suit, and he turned to see another human form with a red outline flashing the S.O.S..

"Save his shit?" Quatre offered.

Wufei snorted, working his machine around to gather the man up as he realized what happened. He'd been irritated when he'd attacked that last MS. He'd probably done something fatal to the machine, and with it _being_ Gerrange, it was probably just as fatal to the pilot.

'Thank you,' the man mouthed toward the camera, clinging to Demigod's hand. He looked none-too-thrilled to be a lone man in a suit in space, but what could he do?

"Let us truss up this one," Heero's voice came over the speakers. "Then we'll take yours."

"Alright," Wufei agreed, moving toward the transport himself.

"Why did they only send ten?" Quatre asked quietly.

"Either a test or stupidity," Trowa offered, allowing Heavyarms to float a bit.

"I meant _which_," Quatre retorted. "I want to talk to Matty, I'm riding back in the ship."

"They can only take two," Duo reminded him. "Who else wants to ride in?"

"I probably should," Wufei returned. "I don't trust Demigod in the vacuum."

"Good, I didn't want to go in, anyway," Trowa noted, flicking a thruster so he stopped floating away from them. "You cool with it, Duo?"

"I hadn't planned to ride in at all," the other reassured him, moving away from the transport.

Wufei maneuvered himself to be closer to the ship, moving the machine so the man was outside the airlock.

Truth-be-told, the man was starting to look a little panicked when nothing happened right away, and he shifted how he sat, reaching for the door carefully.

"Just wait," Wufei instructed, realizing he should have contacted the guy. "How's your oxygen?"

"I'm gonna say ten minutes and have a panic attack," the male's voice returned as he clung back to the machine.

"Heero?" Wufei hit the contact button.

"Yeah?" Blake asked.

"You're not Asian enough to be Heero," Wufei informed him helpfully. "My guy says he has ten minutes of oxygen left."

"Oh _that_ is just peachy," Blake muttered dryly. "I cannot believe..."

The ESA transport beamed them a warning.

"I suggest you gather them quickly," Quatre noted to the thing—they had an open channel between their MS. "I don't think they have much oxygen."

"Yes, Sir," someone muttered.

The ship's door opened, and Wufei watched as the guy he was holding all but leapt into Heero—the man's build made it obvious who it was.

"You going in first?" he asked Quatre.

"No, go ahead," Quatre returned. "I trust mine more than you seem to trust yours."

Wufei flashed him a grin, hitting the connect button again. "Blake?"

"Yeah?"

"Let them know I want to dock and ride in."

"Alright...who do I tell?" but as he asked, Wufei heard confirmation from an unknown voice.

Wufei moved to the belly of the ship, watching as it slowly opened, then hit the dock button on his machine and started to pray.

He _should_ have burnt some incense. It would have made him feel ten times better.

* * *

"We knew there weren't enough of us," a soldier noted from where he was sitting with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Quatre hesitated to look at the two men, then shrugged at Wufei and disappeared through the door.

"We did," the guy persisted, his expression serious as he considered Wufei's face. "Rab wanted us to make the attempt, but we were done with him—he's..." he trailed off, looking away. "I think he would have killed us before letting us surrender."

"We should have left with J," the second guy said, staring at the floor—he hadn't looked up when Wufei and Quatre had moved into the room. "I wanted to."

"You guys okay here?" Wufei asked curiously, moving toward the other door.

"I would like it acknowledged that the ten of us agreed to this ridiculous attempt as the means to surrender without being shot," the first stated firmly.

"Alright," Fei agreed, moving beyond them toward the exit.

"You have oxygen?" the first demanded, looking from his friend to Wufei. "You have enough?"

"Illicit is working in concert with the ESA," Wufei returned. "As such the ship has access to the ESA resources," he stopped in the door. "Beyond that, the ship's hull is in one piece, and would survive the atmosphere drop should the emergency occur."

The second looked up, studying Wufei a long moment. "Do you have water? Or a sports drink?"

Wufei considered the man a long moment, looking back to the first. They both had an eager expression as they waited for the answer. He flashed them a mild grin, moving through the door. It slid closed, and he heard them sigh in disappointment.

"They're sort of...floating," Quatre noted as he tossed the two bottles to Wufei. "Neither of them are sure of anything."

"Thanks," Wufei muttered as the man disappeared, moving back to the other door.

The two men looked up at him...and focused on the cups.

The first smiled uncertainly, meeting his eyes for a moment before looking away.

"Sports drinks, we have," Wufei noted, breaking the first open. "Sorry, but I'm not hanging out to give you drinks and we aren't un-cuffing you. Here," he set the thing in the cup holder between the first man and the empty seat next to him. He opened the second as well, setting that in the outer cup-holder.

"You're some kind of god," the second muttered in amusement looking up to him again.

"I've heard that a few times," Wufei noted, winking at him as he turned to start away.

"Chang," the first muttered.

Wufei turned to look at him curiously.

They stared at him.

"Oh, did I neglect that?" Wufei smirked at them. "I'm Brigadier General Chang Wufei of the Earthsphere Alliance."

They continued staring at him.

Wufei smiled at them, then turned back to the other room.

"Why didn't Trowa come?" Blake muttered, studying Wufei's face seriously.

"He's...Trowa...like that?" Wufei offered, looking around.

Jin sighed, moving up to hug him briefly. "You okay?"

"You're such a good husband," Wufei retorted...and pinched his ass. He was running even as he let go, and Jaden turned to give him the _look_.

Blake laughed weakly as he dropped back down into a chair, shaking his head.

"I would so totally _hurt_ you if he weren't talking to your bosses," Jinli hissed, giving him a look. He turned away, heading for the pilot with a stiff back.

Wufei snickered, tucking his hands into his pockets as he strolled up to the screen curiously.

"Brigadier," the man talking said respectfully with a nod of his head.

Wufei nodded back.

Quatre had already taken Matty to a back corner of the room, and Heero was near them. He figured that meant he was in charge, and wondered what he could subtly do to make them wonder why they'd left him to it...aside from pinching his espoused's ass and running for it. That could easily be shoved off as a preference for intimacy in private, so it didn't carry far enough along for him.

"I can see your wheels turning," Quatre noted, turning to give him a level look. "I tell you no."

Wufei snickered happily, ducking away from the console to laugh properly.

"What were you doing?" the new brunette demanded as Matty raised his eyebrows.

"What do you think I was doing, oh mighty space-heart?" Wufei returned sweetly.

"I couldn't tell," Quatre returned, still evenly. "I knew you were trying, though."

Wufei giggled, then smacked his hands to his mouth.

Blake snickered.

"Shh, don't watch me," Wufei chided, bouncing down to sit across from him and tilt his head. "You look high-strung."

"Trowa was fighting," Blake explained, looking down with a sigh.

"Are you kidding me?" Wufei asked blankly. "With _ten_ suits? That wasn't an issue—it might have been on earth the first few weeks...but we were fifteen then."

Blake smiled slightly at that, not lifting his head as he looked at Wufei. That seemed to fall under the "coy" category.

"I'm not Trowa to suddenly decide you're cute," Wufei informed him with a smirk. "You wouldn't like sex with me, I'm selfish."

Blake started laughing at that, smacking Wufei and giving him a more reprimanding sort of look.

Wufei laughed, grabbing the underside of Blake's forearm near the elbow. The grip startled Blake so he looked up properly. "I can't promise you that nothing will happen," he said quietly, leaning over and pulling slightly. He pressed his forehead to Blake's and studied his eyes a moment. "Nothing will happen."

"Wait, what?" Blake asked, thinking about that as Wufei let him go.

"_Nothing_ will happen," Wufei returned easily.

Blake closed his eyes, laughing silently a moment, then shook his head...and swung across the aisle to sit in Wufei's lap. He leaned into Wufei's chest, too, relaxing a bit.

That was the sort of thing Matty did. He didn't understand what about _him_ made them both willing to try and cuddle with him, but he didn't really _get_ much to say if the others were claiming he had some sort of fetish with Trowa.

He leaned forward, typing the code to connect to Heavyarms.

"What's up?" Trowa asked, his face appearing on the screen before he gave Wufei a _very_ level look.

"Trowa!" Blake turned instantly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Trowa reassured him. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out what Fei meant," the younger male supplied, thinking again. "He said...he told me he couldn't promise me nothing would happen...but that nothing would happen."

Trowa smiled at that, understanding appearing in his expression. "Nothing _will_ happen," he said quietly.

Blake sighed, then lowered his eyes.

"Blake," Trowa cajoled, "come on."

"I'm just worried," Blake muttered, rubbing at his eyes.

Trowa sighed, looking up to study Wufei a moment, then flashed him a very slight grin. "Wufei? Why is my boyfriend on your lap?"

"No reason," Wufei returned happily, shoving the kid over into the seat next to him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"He was totally in your lap, and you called me specifically so I could see it."

"I did not!" Wufei returned happily. "He was upset and I thought seeing you would help!"

"So why was he in your lap?"

Blake started laughing weakly, leaning against Wufei's shoulder and studying the screen as he sobered.

"If you cheat on me with Wufei," Trowa informed him, "I will _totally_ pull him in with us."

Blake _snorted_ at that, shifting back and thinking. "Wait...is that...supposed to be a threat?"

Trowa grinned wickedly.

"You're stupid," Wufei informed his friend happily, and reached for the disconnect...Blake intercepted that, but the attempt had been made. Wufei gave his friend a look, then hopped up from the seat and moved to rejoin Jaden.

He _wanted_ to create mischief, and it'd be twice as fun if he had to work around Quatre to do it.


	6. Six

**Six**

"Fei, what are you _doing?_" Trowa muttered plaintively. "I know you can't _want_ to sleep with me..."

"I had a nightmare," Wufei muttered, curling up to Trowa's back.

"I think I'm having one," Trowa muttered dryly.

"I'm sorry," Wufei muttered, pressing his forehead against Trowa's shoulder-blade. "Jin has a girl, and..."

"And you don't want to be alone," Trowa finished with a sigh.

"You smell...familiar," Wufei muttered quietly.

"All I smell is grease," Blake muttered tiredly. "We've figured out Wufei _is_ sleeping with us, right?" he muttered to Trowa.

Trowa smiled slightly at that, rolling his head back slightly as the room quieted.

"You smell...right," Wufei muttered quietly. "You smell safe," he added in Chinese.

Trowa sighed, reaching his hand back to squeeze Wufei's thigh briefly. If Wufei weren't genuinely upset, he'd have made an attempt at seduction so Wufei would try and fight him. That would put them closer to even-ground...normal ground.

As for smelling right or safe, Trowa was at a loss, and he could _feel_ Wufei fading into sleep. The other had been tense when he'd first crawled into the bed.

Trowa'd been pretty sure his friend was trying more shit at that point—he'd nearly gotten them all roped into a sit-down lunch with some notable something from somewhere before Heero'd come in and deflected the invitation. When Heero had _told_ them about having to work the way he had, they'd all sort of wondered why Wufei had been left to talk with the notables, anyway...and Wufei'd had a good hour's laugh. Quatre had been half incensed by it all, which was _why_ the laugh had been that long.

Coupling that bit of mischief with the conversation he'd been having right before, and it seemed to line up much closer to Wufei fucking around than Wufei upset.

Trowa wondered what Wufei would think if he realized that Blake was naked under the sheets. Heero'd been teasing Trowa about it throughout the evening, but he hadn't been wrong. As soon as Blake had gotten him alone he'd practically stripped Trowa on the spot. Trowa'd done the happily tortursome thing of making love, too...sort of funny, really, to think that Wufei _had_ to know that.

...but that meant that Wufei was really upset.

. . .Wufei gasped. The room was dark and stiflingly hot, and Wufei was drenched in sweat. There was blood dripping down his arm, and he looked like he probably had a fever.

Trowa opened his eyes, his heart-rate settling as he realized that Blake was curled into his chest and Wufei was wrapped around him from behind.

What had that been?

Trowa swallowed as he searched his memory, blinking slightly as Blake's hand moved along his back. His boyfriend had his arm draping over Trowa so his hand was across his shoulder-blade—quite near Wufei's face, actually.

Oh _this_ was lovely.

Trowa grinned wryly to himself as he relaxed again, realizing that he'd been concerned about Wufei in the dream.

Wufei's body tightened, and he pulled himself off of Trowa, laying very still.

Trowa grinned slightly, deciding not to let the other know he was awake. Wufei had never consciously decided to cuddle with him, and waking up like that was probably exasperating.

"Don't _even_ pretend to be asleep," Wufei hissed.

Trowa snickered, trying not to wake his lover. "I was giving you tatters of dignity," he retorted.

"Gah..." Wufei muttered rolling away so they were back to back. "I can't..."

Trowa shook his head, then grinned. "Blake is naked."

Wufei grunted at that.

"I'm just warning you," Trowa noted quietly.

"As long as he doesn't wake me up if he decides to fuck you again..."

Trowa snickered at that, then yawned. "I had a dream about you."

"Oh god," Wufei groaned. "_Don't_ tell me."

Trowa grinned at that, shifting Blake so he could lay more comfortably—and that was how Blake was supposed to feel, so he probably slept like that all the time. He yawned.

Wufei sighed, shifting back around into him again. "It was...the colony," Wufei said quietly into his spine.

Trowa sighed, shifting his arm back so he was hugging his friend as best he could laying like they were. He could feel the tenseness return as Wufei shifted to hold that arm in place.

He had a feeling he'd regret that in the morning—his arm was bound to fall asleep—but if Wufei needed someone, he wasn't chasing him off, naked boyfriend or no.

* * *

"You have fun last night?"

Wufei jumped awake, staring up blankly at Duo's smirkily happy look.

"Ooh, you _got_ a threesome?" Heero asked eagerly from beyond. "And here I thought it'd be me'n Matty you experimented with."

Blake started laughing weakly.

Wufei blinked up at the males in confusion, then realized he was totally plastered to Trowa's back.

Trowa started laughing silently.

"Uh..." Wufei muttered, starting to pull away.

"We get to hear all _these_ details?" Duo asked Wufei happily.

"Duo, stop teasing," Quatre chided from the door, though he was amused too.

"Oh, _come_ on..." Duo's voice was half-cajoling.

Blake nearly _shrieked_ as Duo yanked the bedding, and the younger male tumbled with the blankets to the floor, giggling weakly.

"Did you have fun?" Matty asked, his tone perplexed.

"He had a nightmare," Trowa informed Duo, sitting up and stretching. "Mm, but I feel good..."

Duo, who'd been laughing since Blake went off the bed, started laughing even harder.

"What _the_ hell?" Quatre asked happily. He and Heero were standing in the door, each leaning against the frame. Matty was a few steps into the room, and Duo was standing at the bed's edge.

"Trowa...caught us...cheating?" Wufei asked curiously.

Trowa himself started snickering wickedly.

"Okay...I'm _sure_ that should have made sense," Heero noted happily.

Trowa snickered more. "I told Blake that if I caught them cheating, I'd take Wufei to bed with us."

Blake burrowed under the blankets on the floor.

"Are you _naked?_" Matty demanded after a moment. "_Blake?_"

Blake started snickering again.

"You know, I do envy the sex you got last night," Heero informed Trowa with a wicked grin.

Matty turned to give him a _very_ level look.

Wufei started laughing himself, then pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs as he sighed. He dropped his head onto them, and met eyes with his friends.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Quatre asked quietly.

Wufei focused across the room as he thought about that, then shrugged. "I dreamed about the colony exploding," he muttered. "I couldn't be alone anymore...and Jin and I would have cried all night."

Trowa shifted, pulling Wufei to his side wordlessly. Matty and Blake seemed to understand how serious a statement that was, because they stopped whispering and snickering together to look up at Trowa.

"Blake needs to get dressed," Trowa said quietly, meeting eyes. "I should probably get more'n boxers on, too."

"I like my idea better," Duo informed them happily leaning down to pull Matty up by the waist. "It's kinkier."

"Holding my boyfriend like that isn't the time to use that word," Heero noted skeptically.

Duo flashed him a brief grin as Matty broke away from him, then shook his head to smile at Trowa. The group of them were gone in a second, and Trowa looked down to Blake.

Blake was eyeing Wufei.

"I don't want to fuck you," Wufei informed him grumpily, leaning against Trowa. "You can be naked and I won't care."

Blake smiled at that, then frowned a bit. "Are you okay?"

"I will be," Wufei sighed, pressing his eyes into his forearms. "In a bit."

Trowa rubbed at his back, then slid off the bed and helped Blake stand.

There was no point in dwelling, and that's all they'd do if Trowa didn't get things moving.

* * *

"I don't want to pilot anymore."

Duo turned to look at Wufei blankly.

Wufei was looking at Heero.

"_Wait_..." Matty protested, sitting up straighter.

"I _can't_ pilot anymore," Wufei persisted, meeting eyes with Matty. "Not in space."

"But that means..." Matty looked around desperately to Trowa, then to Duo.

"I'll do it," Jinli said quietly.

"Yes!" Matty muttered half desperately, turning appealing eyes onto Heero. "_Please_."

Heero studied him, fingering his spoon a moment, then looked around to Trowa...then Duo.

Duo pursed his lips, looking to Trowa himself, then Quatre. After a moment, he focused on Jin.

"I think it's space, near a colony," Wufei muttered, moving to sit in the chair left for him as he looked out at the blackness beyond the window. "Last night, I..."

"Why us?" Blake asked curiously. "I'd think that Quatre and Duo would be doubly comforting."

"Trowa...is familiar," Wufei said, looking away.

"And that is beside the point," Duo added in a quiet voice as he considered the two Asian men.

"What?" Blake asked, looking back to him.

"If Wufei doesn't pilot Demigod, that leaves it to Heero in most technical ways..."

"_Please_," Matty muttered, covering his face with his hands.

"I...would rather..." Heero hesitated, looking between Matty and Wufei. "I don't want to fight in space, either," he looked around to all of them. "On earth, I would take Demigod," he considered Jinli a long time in silence.

Jinli looked around to all of them, waiting.

"I have no fear of space," Heero said quietly. "I have no fear of fighting, but..."

Trowa bowed his head.

"I know I'm not part of your team," Jinli muttered, looking between Quatre and Duo. "I know I wasn't trained with you...but where Wufei falters, I want to carry us."

Quatre bowed his head.

Duo studied Jinli as Wufei gave the man a level look, realizing that they needed a consensus. He looked to Blake.

"What?" Blake asked quietly, blinking at him.

"What do you think of Jinli fighting instead of Heero?"

"If that's what he wants," Blake said nervously, looking them all over. "I mean...we did those tests, and he said himself that he could have been the pilot of...of Shenlong," he glanced briefly at Wufei. "He has the skills, and you're all insisting that this fighting isn't nearly as...hard...as it was during the wars. If Trowa agrees, so do I."

"Duo," Wufei said quietly, "Heero's not only living for himself now. He's not worried about the fighting, but think about what's happened? Quatre's fighting now because of you. Matty doesn't have those resources to fall back on."

"I think you misunderstand," Duo noted, looking from face to face. "If Jinli will fight, we have the suit...but if any of us has any doubt on the matter, it needs spoken now. Are _you_ okay with Jinli fighting in your place?"

Wufei stared at him a long moment, then met eyes with his friend. "I think I have to be," he said. "I've asked an awful lot of Jin since I found him again—I think it's time for me to make some concessions."

"Do you doubt his skill?" Duo persisted. "Do you doubt his mental capacity? Could he stand the battle stress if shit goes down?"

Wufei thought about that, focusing to the side a long moment, then started to shake his head...before nodding firmly. It wasn't a denial changed to agreement, it was more 'there is nothing to say' followed by agreement.

Duo looked to Matty.

"I don't want Heero piloting," Matty said, bowing his head.

"That's not a reason to agree," Duo noted seriously.

Matty looked up at him.

"Matty couldn't stand the stress of it if shit went down," Heero noted, grinning very slightly. "Everyone but you has said yes."

"No, he said yes," Jinli noted, vaguely amused. "He just wants to be dramatic before he agrees properly."

Duo gave _that_ man a look. For all that he hadn't been around that long, he was falling quite happily into the habits of the group.

Jinli grinned.

Duo sat back and shrugged slightly. "When we're done eating, we'll go hop into the void," he stated. "That way you can get used to the handling. The whip isn't really the same as the dragons, is it?" he looked to Wufei.

"Close enough," Wufei shrugged.

"Alright," Duo muttered, looking everyone else over. "I guess it's settled, then."

"I'm sorry," Wufei said quietly, looking away. "I can just tell that my dream last night was only the beginning."

"As long as you're okay," Duo said quietly, meeting his friend's eyes. "In the end, that's the part that _really_ matters."

Wufei smiled slightly and nodded.

"I think I just lost my appetite," Jin muttered, staring at his plate.

Duo made an amused noise. "Eat anyway."

* * *

"You're okay," Wufei reassured Jin as the Asian male fell from the end of the tow-rope, pulling him back up from the floor before he'd settled. "You're alright..."

"I'm okay," Jin agreed, though he was shaking hard. "It's just...I _really_ just piloted that suit..."

"Yeah, you're okay," Wufei said, a smile crossing his face. "I just said that...take a breath. He needs a drink," Wufei noted, turning to focus on Jaden, who was standing near with an almost exasperated expression.

"I guess we'll just have to have a bucket and bottle waiting when he comes back from fighting," Jaden noted dryly to Qingfu.

"Don't be mean," Qingfu chided.

"I'm not being mean. Some men need the bucket and bottle after a fight...it's just how it is."

"I'll be okay," Jinli said, looking around to him. The shaking had subsided, and he seemed to have calmed. He looked around as Duo dropped from Deathscythe, strolling toward them with interest.

"How'd he do?" Jaden muttered to Duo.

"He did fine," Duo shrugged. "We had him tested back in LA at one point, so we know he _can_, it's just a question of a real battle."

"I really...I'm going to be fighting," Jinli muttered to Wufei, studying his eyes. "Really."

Wufei smiled slightly grimly at him, looking away a moment.

"We got a note that a ship from the ESA wants to dock for a transfer," Jaden noted curiously to the group of them. "I didn't get why, though. You guys order anything?"

"They might just be doing a routine refill," Duo suggested as Wufei grinned wickedly to Jin.

"What did you do?" Jinli asked in a low voice.

"It's a routine refill," Wufei returned easily, moving closer to the rest. "We thought you shouldn't be playing with large weapons in space when they were coming in for it."

"Sound, I suppose," Duo muttered, shrugging a bit. "Where is everyone?"

"They're coming," Qingfu noted, gesturing back toward the entryway. "We should probably move."

"Oh, that's right, the big vacuum of space," Duo turned to look at Wufei and Jin a moment, then grinned and followed.

Actually, there was no one on the deck at all. That suggested to Duo that they'd called them in close, not that anyone should have been around for the suits re-docking. But that was still beyond the point.

Duo frowned as he tossed his helmet into a cubby. Jinli followed suit, and before long they were in the adjacent room. "I need my hair cut again," Duo muttered wryly to Wufei. "I never used to need my hair cut."

"Bullshit," Wufei retorted, unzipping Jin's suit. "You always got it cut, like, every three months or something like that."

"Should I grow it again?" Duo muttered, collecting the longer-than-shoulder-length stuff into his hand as he thought.

"No," Wufei returned, rolling his eyes. "You should get it cut to normal boy-length and have someone style it."

Duo and Jin _both_ looked at him pointedly.

"I never had the balls to change my hairstyle," Wufei informed them both, almost defensively.

"I somehow doubt that," Qingfu noted, watching as the two pilots stripped from their flight-suits.

"Are you watching my husband?" Wufei asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'd say you're beyond stupid," Jinli muttered, dropping to the bench, "but I think that'd be counterproductive at this point."

Wufei beamed at him.

"_Are_ you watching his husband?" Jaden demanded dryly, moving away from the communication panel he'd been messing with.

"I was, he has an interesting bulge," Qingfu gestured suggestively.

Jaden looked.

Wufei doubled over laughing, as Jinli straightened to raise his eyebrows—Jaden, though, turned away hard, starting to curse.

Qingfu snickered, looking around to Duo. "You ever do that to Quatre?"

"I can't pull it off," Duo noted, rolling his eyes. "Quatre catches my emotions when I do shit like that—though I must say that's impressive, he's still embarrassed."

Wufei laughed even harder, then darted out of reach as Jinli smacked at him. He darted for the far wall...and flew at it much higher and easier than he'd meant to as the bay-doors opened to let the visiting ship in.

"Whoa," Jinli muttered, stopping. Gravity wasn't gone, exactly, but half as effective.

Wufei half-perched to show his old friend how 'old-hat' that sort of nonsense was, but was falling before he could do the smirk thing. He landed it easily, turning to look at the others.

"Why are you trying to impress him?" Duo asked curiously, tilting his head a little. "I thought you weren't trying to get in his bed."

"And that's what I want you to think," Wufei agreed primly, moving to lounge at the exit.

"If I trusted myself to do it, I'd kick your ass," Jin informed him, sitting carefully down again.

There was a snicker in the hall.

"You're going to hurt yourself," Trowa chided. "Stop bouncing around like a maniac. If you're up too high when gravity comes back..."

The ship shuddered very slightly as the bay-doors closed...and Matty yelped.

"He warned you," Heero noted dryly.

"Good thing you were there to catch me, oh my hero," Matty cooed.

"Guh..." Blake muttered. "Trowa, I think Matty is giving me diabetes."

Trowa laughed happily at that, hitting the button and stopping to look at them all curiously.

"Routine refill?" Duo offered.

"Sounds good to me," Trowa returned, shrugging as he turned and hit the button to open the hatch. That was followed by several seals closing and the oxygen refilling the area.

"You play, too?" he asked Jinli.

"Wufei was," Jinli returned, rolling his eyes. "He jumped up the wall, but he was on the ground again before the gravity came back."

"I always want it to catch him," Trowa mused, flashing Wufei a smirk. "But he knows the pattern too well to be caught."

"Hi, Jin," Blake smiled at him.

Jin blinked, then smiled back at the kid.

"Hi, Duo," Blake added, moving around to hug him.

"He's feeling...snuggly?" Trowa offered. "I think he was trying to get me in bed, but I have stuff to do...for now."

Blake snickered, moving around to be under his arm as the seals opened.

"Why do I sometimes think you're all too normal to be war heroes?" Jaden muttered dryly as they all started into the docking area. "Every now and again you just...strike me as normal."

"That _is_ weird," Duo muttered, kissing at Quatre again.

"You guys," Heero warned. "That's an ESA ship."

"Ooh," Duo separated from Quatre, though Blake didn't bother. At the same time, though, Trowa had never been the kind to follow protocol—he bitched at all of them about it, sure, but him _doing_ it? Not as consistent.

"Alright," the man in charge muttered. "I have three cases of baked goods, three cases of juice, two cases of water, and a canister of oxygen."

They all _stared_ at him.

"Thank you," Wufei said happily, moving forward to take the clipboard. "How considerate."

The guy gave him a confused look as Wufei signed with a flourish.

"Come again?" Jaden muttered, stopping near him.

"Three cases of baked goods," the man repeated, gesturing toward the back of the ship as the men hauled the boxes from their machine. "It's mixed goods, from bread to cakes...pies, too."

"Cookies?" Wufei persisted.

"Sugar, chocolate...I forget what all. It was a mixed order," he smiled a bit. "Three cases of various juices...and the water and oxygen are normal dispense."

"Thank you," Wufei said again happily.

"No problem, Brigadier," he muttered, saluting, then tilted his head. "Oh, there's more, huh?" he shook his head, clicking buttons on his clipboard. "That's right...a case of bedding, special order," the man flashed Trowa a wicked grin. "A case of toiletries," another flash at Trowa. "...and a case of underthings."

Wufei's smile was the widest it had ever been that Heero could remember...and he had a feeling this was _his_ fault.

"We also have the single-order fatigues," the man added, turning and reaching into the ship.

Quatre was _staring_ at Wufei.

"...who...let...Wufei...talk alone?" Duo demanded, looking between them all.

Wufei started cackling happily as the clothes were passed into his arms. The man's expression had changed to highly amused at some point, and he started snickering as he passed the clipboard over a second time.

"You're a marvel," Wufei complimented the man happily. "Thank you for your help."

The man laughed as he shook Wufei's hand, then forced himself to sober and saluted the others...without meeting eyes.

"Oh good god, what _toiletries_ did you order?" Duo muttered, closing his eyes again.

Wufei's laughter turned real...and he bounced toward the men unloading the boxes.

Jinli looked to Duo nervously.

"Brigadiers," the man muttered, saluting them with a grin. "I hope you have a very enjoyable evening."

Matty started snickering.

"Oh my god," Quatre breathed, staring at the pile of stuff. "I'm going to kill him."

Blake started snickering too.

"Wasn't this nice of the ESA?" Wufei chirped happily as he pulled the lid off a box.

The group of them wandered toward the boxes, dumbstruck.

"Oh look!" Wufei added cheerily, turning to Jinli. "There are sugar cookies in here! They look soft!" he dug a package out and opened it, offering one to his friend.

Jin was laughing weakly as he took three, not meeting eyes.

"Oh! And Duo!" Wufei reached down again. "Look! Fudge!"

Duo closed his eyes, taking a long slow breath before reaching over to grab the package.

"Isn't this odd?" Wufei continued on blithely, obviously ready to dance as he pulled out another package. "Chocolate covered...ooh," Heero'd snatched the things. "Oh, and what is _this?_" Wufei purred, digging down in...and slowly pulling something up as Quatre shifted forward slightly.

"Why...if it's not...it can't be!" he turned away before Quatre could reach for him. "Why, it's cinnamon rolls! Who in the world ordered us cinnamon rolls?"

Quatre basically started giggling, darting forward to snatch the package from Wufei...and smack his arm for good measure.

"Hm," Wufei added as he considered the next package. "Now _this_ is an odd one...cream-filled eclairs," he looked up. "Why Trowa, I do believe someone thought of you."

Trowa smiled broadly at him, taking the package and moving to sit on the floor to dig into it.

"What else did they manage to bring?" Jinli asked dryly, glancing between Blake and Matty.

"Hm, this...why in the world?" he muttered, pulling out a package of cake things. They were both red and white, and looked moist.

Matty squeaked, diving in and getting those before Wufei could say more, moving to join Trowa.

Blake gave Wufei a curious look.

"It's just the weirdest thing," Wufei muttered pleasantly, digging again. "I have my swirl roll thingies...but what else is in here?"

"I never even told you my favorite," Blake protested.

"Hm," Wufei agreed, pursing his lips in mock thought. "That is true...so it makes me wonder...why in the world is there a bunch of red-velvet squares in here?"

Blake _squeaked_ at him, diving in to dig a package out and stare at it excitedly. After a moment, he looked up to Wufei with almost rapture in his eyes. "_Thank_ you!"

Wufei smiled at him, digging out a package of chocolate and cream swirls as he looked to Jin.

"You're proud of yourself, aren't you?" Jin accused.

"Oh sure," Wufei agreed happily, starting to eat and close his eyes. "It's a game with us—I don't know why those geniuses left me to talk to the officials yesterday, but they did."

"How much _shit_ did you order?" Jin asked, looking at the piles of boxes.

"It's all actually sort of treat stuff," Wufei noted, looking the boxes over. "I want juice, of course, but I think the kids will absolutely love all this," he gestured at the baked stuff. "I figure we each get two packages, then dispense the rest to the ship."

"I don't suppose you're my friend, are you?" Qingfu muttered, nearing to glance at the box.

"Hm," Wufei purred, considering the male a long moment. "It's very strange to me," he added happily, ducking his hand in again as he ate his cookie. "But there does seem to be this...this package of cheesecake cups."

Qingfu squeaked, darting forward eagerly.

"But I don't know if they're for you," Wufei teased, not letting the man grab the package. "I mean, they could just have slipped in there by mistake..."

Qingfu bounced eagerly at him.

Wufei laughed, passing the package over. Jaden was moving forward, and Wufei dug in again to pull out yellow looking cake-things. He tossed those to the captain, and the man stared at the package in disbelief.

"You're all thrilled for this," Wufei noted happily. "And for the juice, I'm sure...but you don't know what else I ordered, do you?" he beamed at them all happily, digging out another package of rolls. "And since you'll all hate me on some level," he beamed more at them, "I'm gonna run! Bring me some juice," he muttered to Blake...and started skipping for the stairs.

"This is your fault," Heero accused Quatre.

"No, it's yours," Quatre shot back. "I was talking to Matty."

"But you're supposed to notice him pulling stuff," Heero accused.

"I don't understand, what is this?" Jaden gave them curious looks.

"Oh, those toiletries he ordered are likely to contain lube, condoms, and spermicide," Trowa shrugged. "There's a chance it'll even be the his-and-her variety of lube, too. There'll likely be the normal soap, deodorant, and shampoos mixed in...but considering that we were told to have a good night, I imagine..."

"Barton?" one of the men offloading stuff asked, moving around with a brown bag in his hands. "Brigadier Barton?"

Trowa _stared_ at him.

"It's...here," Blake indicated Trowa.

"The magazines you ordered," the man tried to maintain a straight face as he passed that over. It cracked, though, after a moment, and he looked away. "I'm sorry," he said, meeting eyes again. "Our lieutenant noted that this seems to be half a gag-delivery...so...um...Yuy?"

Heero raised his hand, his expression skeptical as he got a similar bag to Trowa's.

"And this is for...Maxwell," he looked around, passing that over too.

"That's not for me, is it?" Quatre asked, blinking at the last.

"No, actually," the man returned, considering it. "This is a gift for the Supreme Commander."

Jaden stared at him.

Qingfu leaned forward, accepting the package curiously. The brown bags tended to contain pornographic material...and all the bags were slightly different.

"This had to have been more than his contact," Quatre noted as Duo snickered. He'd opened his own little bag.

"Um, he listed a few specific things," the man noted in amusement. "But aside from that, he asked that one Colonel Lucretzia Noin assist."

Matty started snickering wickedly, yanking the bag from Heero's hand.

The man smiled at them all, saluting. "Good day. The deck should be cleared."

"Of course," Duo agreed dryly, rolling his eyes.

"Let's go kick his ass," Trowa suggested pleasantly, hopping up to dig into the baked goods box. "You know where he'll be, Jin?"

"I assume hiding by the children," Jinli noted, digging himself. "We'll have to organize a search."

Matty managed to cackle, darting over to show something to Blake—it made Blake start snickering as the two started for the ship-proper with their heads together.

Trowa rolled his eyes, digging more of the red-velvet things out as Heero moved up beside him.

Jackass Wufei might be, but he could temper any mischief with pleasure—and they found it hard to properly reprimand him when he did it, too.

It really _was_ Quatre's fault, no matter _what_ was in those toiletry orders. He glanced curiously at the other boxes.

They'd have to investigate all the rest of it...later.


	7. Seven

**Seven**

Wufei ran a hand through his hair as he stopped in the command room. He moved across the thing, though, offering a cup of coffee from his carry-tray to Jaden.

"Oh, morning," Jaden muttered, turning to look at him and smile as he took a cup. "Thanks. You sleep okay?"

"Yeah, actually," Wufei returned, smiling more and moving around to offer one to Qingfu.

"You alright?" Qingfu muttered, studying him as he took his own.

"I'm good," Wufei agreed quietly. His friends weren't giving him those searching looks...well, Blake and Matty a little bit—Jinli was thinking about it. But the rest had moved on—was that a good thing? He wasn't sure, but he wasn't going to let it get him down.

"Captain," someone muttered in alarm from the monitoring console. "Captain...there's something happening."

Jaden, Qingfu, and Wufei turned as one toward the machine. It took them all of two steps to reach the man, and they studied the screen in confusion.

"What..." Jaden started.

"Is...that..." Qingfu muttered.

Wufei didn't bother with words. He hit the red-alert.

Sirens _screamed_ through the ship as Wufei typed the code for 'battle stations'. It wasn't until he'd entered it and the recorded message was playing that he realized this wasn't his ship. Actually, he'd thought that sort of system had been disarmed before selling it to be a civilian craft.

Either someone cut corners, or he was wrong. It was really a fifty-fifty chance there.

"What?" Duo demanded, his voice breaking into the ship's system to play on the screen.

"It looks like twenty MS have just left Obsidian," Wufei returned as he did the quick mental calculations. "Heading toward in an undetermined direction—at least in specifics. We'll send the information to the suits."

"Right," Duo agreed.

"Captain?" someone asked nervously from the vid-screens.

"I'm going to ship," Wufei informed the others seriously, then turned to dart away.

"What do you mean _twenty_ suits?" Blake demanded as he fell in with his group.

"Roughly...as many as thirty," Wufei glanced briefly to Heero.

Heero looked away.

Wufei closed his eyes, mouthing a silent prayer of protection for Jinli.

Again, incense would be more...reassuring.

Blake squeaked at him when Wufei decided on expedience. He lifted the younger male from the ground...and jumped with him as Matty actually cried out. They had about three seconds before the vacuum of space took them, and he didn't plan to use that running down stairs.

Heero cast Wufei a look as they dove in the last possible space they could make it, falling into the ship proper as Blake clung and Matty protested more.

Was the pilot an ass or confident?

Wufei smirked wickedly at Blake, turning and snatching up space-suits. He had his on in about a heartbeat, then turned to truss Blake up properly as Heero repeated the actions with Matty.

The ship lurched, and both younger males purposefully looked away from the room's window. Deathscythe shot by, and seemed to have Demigod holding its ankles—he'd have to complain to Jin about that later...but Heavyarms was close enough behind that the pilot was probably having a heart attack.

Wufei sniggered, darting up the walk and snatching up one of the ship's command consoles—laptops. Most ships had two or three of them, and he hadn't had time to grab his own laptop.

He'd have to remedy that.

"Uh," the pilot turned to look back at them briefly, then cursed and shifted their direction slightly...as another suit pelted past them.

"Quatre," Matty noted, looking around. "That was Quatre..."

"And all our MS," the pilot agreed, taking a deep breath.

"Let me," Heero instructed, sliding into the seat before the poor man realized he was displaced.

The pilot didn't protest, sliding down to the floor as he clung to the chair. Heero's hands started moving across the controls instantly, and Wufei smiled grimly at the boys.

"Uh..." Matty started.

"Sit," Wufei ordered, shoving them both to seats. "We may start playing acrobatic in a minute here, depending on what mood your husband is in."

Heero laughed happily. "Fuck you, Chang."

"Blow me," Wufei retorted, booting up the console.

"Bring the lube and I might."

"You'd never be able to handle me."

"Oh, but I'd love to try," Heero started laughing wickedly.

Wufei snickered himself.

"Wow," Blake muttered dryly to Matty. "That was...special."

"They were...both serious," Matty returned, sounding uncertain.

Wufei laughed delightedly, connecting the machine to Illicit properly.

"Boot up mine," Heero ordered, looking back. "Fei will code it when you get it on...ready?"

The pilot lurched toward a seat himself as Matty passed the laptop he was holding to Wufei.

"They're heading for L-4!" Qingfu gasped. "Jaden's getting a suit!"

"Yay! Playtime for Quatre!" Wufei finished connecting his laptop to the gundams.

"What?" Quatre snapped.

"Our little brigade is heading toward L-4," Wufei returned. "Didn't you see that?"

The projected flight-path settled on a colony before Quatre could respond, and Wufei wasn't the only one who stopped.

"That son of a _bitch_," Quatre hissed. "That god-forsaken whore of a half-skinned goat!"

"What?" Matty asked.

"22," Wufei supplied, his own heart constricting.

D17622. Quatre's home colony.

There was no way Gerrange didn't know that.

Matty stopped, his eyes widening.

Heero'd already started cursing.

"It's a farce," Quatre snapped as Jaden's screen popped up in the ring. "It's total bullshit. That mother-fucker would _never_ try and pull that shit on me."

"What?" Jaden asked blankly.

"Your would-be god wants me to cuts his balls off and saute them for supper," Quatre supplied.

Jaden glanced to the other screens.

"He's heading for L-4," Duo said shortly. "Toward 22 specifically."

"Where Quatre's family is," Trowa agreed. "Where Quatre's new-born nephew is."

Jaden looked around uncertainly again.

"Twenty ships toward 22," Duo added quietly. "You call it farce. Why?"

"Because it _is_," Quatre growled, looking the screens over. "Marshal would _never_ have the balls to fuck with me like that."

"He wasn't like, some secret boyfriend, was he?" Duo asked almost nervously.

Quatre flashed him a feral grin. "Oh, you start putting merit to me being a sex-toy now?"

"Well...yes," Duo hazarded, then flashed his lover a grin.

"No, he appealed to me for family funds at one point," Quatre rolled his eyes. "And when I told him no he tried to cow me."

"That...sounds..." Trowa glanced around briefly. "Dangerous."

"Yeah," Quatre agreed dryly. "I broke his nose, dislocated his shoulder, and got him in the groin for good measure," he laughed wickedly. "I was also in a three-piece at the time, didn't even ruin the shine on my shoes."

Jaden ran a hand across his face.

"You know," Wufei muttered, looking up to Heero. "I never thought to...ask...what happened," he glanced toward Jinli to be sure he looked okay. "I...always just assumed he had it out for rich kids who actually earned their shit."

"Thank you," Quatre returned almost primly, then flashed the camera his wicked grin. "So what's the least likely thing for him to do now?"

"You mean aside from attacking 22?" Heero called back.

"Yes," Quatre agreed.

"He can hear you?" Blake muttered.

"If he tries," Heero agreed. "Is mine on yet?"

Wufei typed in the final code and smirked at the little picture of himself that showed up on the screen. He smirked like that a lot, it looked naughty—no wonder no one believed he was innocent.

He had to grin at that thought process as he passed the machine back to Blake.

"Yes, I mean aside from actually attacking 22," Quatre informed them all when the view settled on Heero and not random ship-bits. "What do you think?"

"I think he's got twenty suits heading for your colony," Jaden snapped. "He _hates_ you, Winner."

"And I'm sure I deserve it," Quatre purred. "I didn't _tell_ anyone what he'd done, so it's got to be his own personal and festering shame. He probably came in expecting to get the shit beat out of him and..." he laughed a bit, "found out that I'd risen to colonel."

Duo snickered. "Oh my god, I love you," he noted. "You're such a delicious asshole."

"Um, ew?" Wufei gave them both looks.

The outburst of mixed disbelief, disgust, and utter amusement that met the comment was instantaneous. Blake and Matty were blushing and all but giggling while Jinli closed his eyes. Heero was almost laughing hard enough that he shouldn't be flying, and Duo had to hit the auto-pilot.

"Mm," Quatre muttered. "I'm not going there."

Matty covered his face with his hands, actually starting to giggle.

Wufei grinned proudly, meeting eyes with Jinli. It'd been a long time since he'd actually blind-sided his friends...well, aside from the order he'd put in the last time they'd fought.

...and considering that most of the toiletries he'd ordered were gone, he probably wasn't the only one happy with the situation.

"Quatre!" Lu's face broke into the screen-links, her face pale. "Quatre, they're heading for 22!"

"That's some sort of rouse," Quatre returned, instantly going serious—when Lu realized that Jaden's cheeks were a fiery red, she might wonder what they were talking about, but for now it was all business.

"What?" she demanded. "How can you tell?"

"I just _can_," he returned, his eyes narrowing. "Wufei, what's Obsidian doing?"

"It's not..." Lu was typing quickly.

Wufei realized that he didn't _have_ his fucking laptop, so he couldn't get to Heero's bug.

"Uh...p...patch," Qingfu half sputtered, his fingers flying over buttons. "Sorry!" he added when the whole screen went to a view of Obsidian's bridge.

Heero grunted, looking around to Wufei.

They didn't have their machines, and unless Heero hooked his phone up, they weren't going to have that control.

He shook his head.

The screens flickered back to the multi-display.

"The assholes fell for it," Rab's voice came. There were several men clustered around a console.

Quatre sneered, his lip curling up. He looked like a different man, really. Wufei had never seen that expression on his friend, and realized vaguely that he hoped never to see it again.

"By the time they realize what we're doing, we'll be there."

"What is this?" Lu asked hesitantly.

"I hacked into their surveillance," Heero reminded her.

Actually, Wufei couldn't remember if she'd been on Illicit when they'd done that.

"What do we do, Quatre?" Trowa demanded.

Quatre glanced at that screen, then all of them. His eyes changed focus, and Wufei caught Matty's head lifting from the corner of his eye.

"It's..._there_," Matty muttered.

"You can't even make it out," Quatre shot back.

"What?" Lu asked.

"Sorry," Quatre returned, nonplussed. "Fei?"

"It's...not moving," Wufei returned instantly, changing screens to start typing.

"Why are _you_ doing this?" Duo asked dryly.

"Because Heero decided he should fly," Wufei shot back. "I'm sorry I can't make it all happen at your whim."

"You should be," Duo retorted.

"Can you at least _pretend_ to be professional?" Trowa asked curiously. "Just as a purely scientific test, of course."

Duo snickered at that.

"Ready?" Rab asked. "I think that should be enough for them."

"Lu, send out a squad for 22. Make sure 22s defenses are scrambled," Quatre was considering the screens.

"You sure?" someone else asked from Rab's screen.

"Yes...engage, now."

The monitoring systems picked up the main thrusters of Obsidian firing up. The whole machine seemed hesitate...before it _shot_ off.

"27," Matty breathed as Quatre took back the steering of his machine. "They're going to 27."

"What's going on?" Lu asked. "What do we do?"

"It's 27, Lu," Quatre returned as all their suits changed course.

"They're attacking 22!" Jaden snapped. "They _are!_"

"Do what you have to," Quatre shot back. "And I'll do what I have to."

Jaden swore.

The ship lurched, and Matty squeaked as he and Blake both grabbed the armrests.

"Wait!" the pilot protested.

"Jaden? I'm stealing your transport," Heero noted happily. "I suppose that makes us even for you kidnapping us."

"What?" Lu demanded. "Officially?"

"Nothing, nothing at all," Heero returned.

"_Damn it, Yuy!_" Jaden shouted in obvious frustration, pounding his own controls. "We can't leave a colony undefended!"

"We have the entire ESA," Heero shot back. "They've been waiting for orders, and Quatre gave them, right, Lu?"

She nodded.

"But you're just going to take off to some unknown place!" Jaden was evidently incensed.

"If my family dies," Quatre said in a level voice, "then I will personally skin every fucking last man from that half-baked rebellion."

Jaden focused on his screen.

"I will hunt them down to the man if _any_ of my family is any more than vaguely alarmed."

Jaden focused away from all of it.

"But I'm going to 27," Quatre added. "And when I've taken the lead, I'm in charge."

"What should we do?" Lu asked quietly. "The ESA, I mean."

"Send a few units," Quatre returned. "Be ready for anything, because all we have is a destination."

Lu nodded, shifting back in her seat to focus on another screen.

"I can't leave 22 to these machines," Jaden said in a low voice.

"Then don't," Quatre returned evenly. "That is your call to make."

Jaden closed his eyes.

Wufei realized that Matty and Blake were watching him, probably for any form of emotional response. He smiled at the pair of them, clicking through a few more options before shifting back. He pulled his phone out, then set it down and stood.

"What?" Matty asked, half rising.

"I have to grab the connector," Wufei returned, starting away.

"Hey, Qingfu?" Heero muttered quietly. "Could you get someone to go power-up my laptop? It should just be sitting on the table in my room—and if it's not someone's losing a hand."

* * *

Trowa shifted around where he sat, watching his screens as he piloted swiftly toward the colony all the bullshit had started at. In a way, it was suiting that it'd all come round full circle. The whole ordeal had started out of nowhere, as far as he and his friends were concerned...why not let it end the same?

It was strange, though, to think that this stupid shit had taken the better part of a year. He supposed it probably could have been shot down a lot faster if they hadn't taken the beginning of summer off to play. If they hadn't done that, and had just searched out Wing Gundam, it'd all have been done already.

But still, there was too much that had been markedly changed by this whole thing. Quatre's angry expression was utterly new, and Jinli being there at all..._piloting_.

He sighed, shifting his screens around as he pulled up the vid.

"What?" Quatre asked, blinking at him.

"I'm calling home," Trowa returned, dialing Tim's number.

"If you start doing that," Duo retorted, "you'll end up dying. You _watch_ the movies!"

"I think I owe it to my friends," Trowa shot back. "I'm not saying good bye, I'm warning them that...this could be it."

They all exchanged looks.

"It?" Jaden asked quietly.

"It's all come around full circle," Trowa supplied quietly. "We started as a motley crew playing in space, and that's just about what we've ended with now—back on 27 with Matty not making the good decision of staying behind."

Wufei and Heero smirked.

"I heard that," Matty called from behind somewhere.

Trowa smiled, wanting to tell Blake he loved him. He didn't think he'd ever actually _said_ it, though, and this didn't seem like the time. Duo was right—if he started saying his good-byes, he'd be willing to die.

"Hello?" Tim asked, then blinked. "Trowa?"

"Hey, Tim," Trowa returned. "I just wanted to call and tell you good-bye."

Duo tsked.

"What?" Tim demanded, looking alarmed.

Trowa snickered. "Sorry...no...we're going to a fight now," he shrugged. "This could be it."

"But..."

Trowa snickered more. "Actually, I was gonna see if I could beg you to go clean our place—dusting and the like, you know? Make sure there's no nasty garbage and stuff. I tell you, I want my own bed back."

"You said any bed was fine, with me in it," Blake shot, appearing behind Heero.

Heero tsked, and tried to brush him away.

"And then what did I do?" Trowa retorted.

Blake sniggered.

"What?" Tim asked blankly. "Uh...I can...if you're sure you're not...I mean..." he hesitated.

"Just like, run the vacuum around a bit," Trowa encouraged. "Maybe check the fridge. We didn't have time to dump our perishables this time."

"Or any time," Heero noted.

"I'll pay you to do it before we get back," Trowa added.

"How much and when," Tim shot back.

"I'll figure that out when we get home," he noted with a grin. "I'm calling my sister now."

"No you're not," Heero shot back. "You get Cathy on the line and we'll _all_ die."

"That is the _least_ reassuring thing any of you bastards have ever said," Tim informed them irritably.

Heero snickered. "Sorry—movie etiquette, right? You start calling people to say goodbye and you're willing to die. We told Trowa not to call you, but he's like, wanting a flag in the memorial or something."

"I do not," Trowa shot back. "I want a star on the wall."

"Ooh, we're getting rank upgrades," Quatre called happily. "I decided I wanna be a full-blown general."

"That's a scary idea," Blake noted happily.

"Suck my what?" Quatre shot back.

Blake snickered.

"Uh...cool?" Tim hesitated. "Where _are_ you?"

"In Heavyarms," Trowa returned happily. "I'm gonna do the expedient thing and hang up on you, though. Just to be safe."

"Trowa..." Tim started.

Trowa ended the call, then reset his screens to grin a bit.

It would be nice to have the house cleaned when they got back to it...and then maybe they could figure out what to do with all the extra room.

* * *

Jaden's unit fell on Rab's from behind, not giving the suits time to reorient on them. He hated doing it like that, but their force wasn't great and they didn't have any gundams, despite how the little foray had started out.

He wanted to kick Yuy's ass for that...or maybe Winner's.

. . .but what Quatre had said made far too much sense to Jaden. He'd never asked why Rab hated the heir as bad as he did, but after hearing that little retelling, he had a feeling they'd found the answer.

The suit in front of Jaden ripped open.

Oh _shit_...

Before the full concept of killing a man like that could work into Jaden's mind, though, he realized something that the suits around him were shouting.

Empty. Dolls.

They weren't even programmed to fight.

"What do we do?" one of his men snapped.

"They have the destination already," Jaden snapped back. "And they're armed. We can't have them flying around here!"

"Stop them!" someone else shouted in alarm. "They're going in too fast!"

Jaden realized the truth of that himself.

The soldiers from 22 would be waiting for the men to come in and attack...but this barrage of suits could puncture the colony.

Jaden swore viciously as their little group headed on, ripping into more of the machines.

Winner's orders to the ESA had been dispersed, but everyone had been going under the assumption that those suits had men in them with the intent to attack.

It was a good thing he hadn't given up this part of the mission.

They tore through the suits as fast as they could manage, sending the suits off into space if they couldn't rip them apart...and working their way through the larger section of suits.

"Thank you, Jaden," Quatre muttered quietly. "Come after us when you're done there, the ESA will mop up."

"Right," Jaden agreed dryly.

Didn't it figure that the man had been bitching and half threatening him before, and was now treating him respectfully?

Well, they _were_ young.

"Hey, guys?" Wufei muttered. "Is it just me...or is Obsidian not slowing down?"

"Well, we're in space," Heero pointed out.

"No...docking routine and all," Wufei supplied. "I don't think he's planning to dock Obsidian."

They all went silent.

"He sent dolls at 22," Duo noted quietly. "He doesn't care if they make it there or not—and if they do, how many people could potentially die from that?"

"How many people are stationed _on_ 27?" Trowa demanded.

"It's a small contingent," Noin returned promptly. "Not many at all. Civilians haven't been allowed to return yet."

"Tell the men to get suited up and brace themselves," Duo ordered her in a quiet voice. "I may not know much...but I don't think Gerrange cares anymore."

"Rabid," Qingfu admitted quietly, looking away.

"Dead," Quatre returned in a flat voice.

"Quatre," the woman chided. "Officially."

No one responded to that...but Jaden had more important things to do...like saving a colony before a certain half-sane man reaped dead-fall vengeance.

Blue eyes landed on his, penetrating and serious.

"What did you think?" Heero asked dryly. "You realize our space-heart is pissed, right?"

"Sorry," Jaden muttered, looking away from that cold gaze. It was just as bad as fuckin' Barton when _he_ was pissed.

Quatre snorted. "You're just lucky I'm not near you. If I _told_ them what I just picked up from you, what do you think they'd do?"

"Oh, probably kill me slowly," Jaden returned dryly. "No worse than the threats I was under to start with anyway."

"Mm, good point," Duo noted in amusement. He smiled a very cold smile. "You wanna say that to me again?"

"Ooh, pissed off my lover," Quatre snickered wickedly.

Jaden shook his head. It was weird to think he was more worried about what Maxwell would do than what Winner himself would—on that same hand, though, he had a feeling Maxwell would be worried about Qingfu if the tables were turned.

"Aw," Quatre added after a moment. "Qingfu, he _loves_ you!"

Qingfu focused on the screens skeptically.

"Quatre, quit being mean," Matty chided, moving up to Wufei's screen.

"Wait, why are you on _his_ lap?" Duo asked blankly. "Isn't Heero in arms reach of you?"

"No, Heero is flying," Matty retorted. "And Blake is in the spot I'd take if I could, so there we go."

"You're all awful casual for me being _fighting_," Jaden snapped as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

"You're tearing up dolls," Quatre shot back. "I'm sorry, Den, I respect you more than that—you can _handle_ un-programmed dolls. In your sleep."

"That's a round-about sort of compliment," Blake mused.

"He called you Den," Qingfu muttered with a little happy dance.

Jaden smiled at his lover, shaking his head.

"See?" Quatre beamed at Duo. "Even when I'm being a dick I can make friends."

"I would say something to that," Duo informed him, "but the open-channel and official quality a certain beauty has..."

Noin snickered. "Alright...we have them suiting up. What's your ETA?"

"Oh, ten minutes?" Quatre looked around. "Or more if we need to."

"How about Obsidian?" she asked wryly.

"Mm," Heero muttered, typing on his laptop.

"You're _flying_," someone protested.

"You come fly," Yuy shot back...and moved from his seat with the laptop in hand.

There was some swearing as people moved around on the transport, and Jaden had to grin to himself as he realized his man deserved something for all of this.

He'd just have to figure out exactly _what_. Probably rank, if he was keeping his cool with that lot of psychos around.

"Jaden?" Quatre's tone was half sing-song.

"Quit _reading_ me, Winner," Jaden retorted.

"Ah, but you're a friend," Quatre protested. "I get pissed and all my friends have their input."

Jaden focused on his screen, giving him a look.

...actually, that was another compliment, wasn't it? He still wanted to smack the man for good measure, but...that had been a compliment.

Quatre grinned at him.

"Alright," Wufei muttered. "It's looking like Obsidian will be in some form of docking in about eight minutes."

Jaden groaned to himself as his team started on the last little group of suits. "God have mercy on us all."

"Or us, at any rate," Duo agreed, looking around. "Do we go?"

"We'll have to get in before the colony seals," Quatre agreed. "If we don't, we'll be stuck outside while they're all playing inside."

"Right," Duo agreed, and started maneuvering his controls.

Jaden watched as the tracker he had opened showed the acceleration of the suits of the team, then shook his head as he tore through another doll.

This...was not what he had in mind when he'd run for a ship...but at least he hadn't had visions of glory.

He focused back on task.


	8. Eight

**Eight**

"Please brace for impact!"

Quatre looked around quietly a moment, then noted that Deathscythe was landing in the next dock over.

"Sir! Obsidian is within range!" the same soldier shouted nervously. "Please brace for..."

Heavyarms thudded into another bay, and after a moment, the actual transport was enough inside the colony to call it safe.

So where was Demigod?

"Jinli!" Wufei's voice was almost scared.

"I know!" Jin returned, and the machine passed into the hanger.

Quatre launched from Lame without a backwards glance, glad the machine was just a Taurus as Demigod collided with it from behind. It sort of figured in a way, but he couldn't really blame Jinli.

Something..._happened_.

Quatre looked around, noting that Heero was already on the ground and Duo was also in air. Wufei was a step behind Heero, and Trowa was standing in Heavyarms' entryway.

It was weird to see the colony lurch.

Sirens, in the form of flashing lights, blared to life. He could see the men yelling, but he and his friends had actually made it into the colony, so there was no real worry. Everyone on the colony should have a space-suit on, so the worst thing that'd happen would be the death of the plants inside the colony—which would actually be sad, since they were used to help generate the oxygen the citizens of the colony needed, but...colonies could be rebuilt, and this one was on the line for demolition anyway.

Quatre finally managed to get himself to the ground, and he realized there was shuddering. Heero and Wufei had turned and ordered Matty back onto the transport shuttle, so the two younger males seemed to be begging in the entryway.

Wufei, in his oh so sublime glory, shoved at Matty's chest. The motion sent the two younger boys back into the ship, and Wufei hit the close button.

"Thanks," Heero muttered, sounding a little stressed.

"We gotta go," Wufei returned promptly.

They all headed back for the hanger entry, and Quatre felt a brief moment of interest for their surroundings. He and Jinli had landed in the same bay they'd used to escape with the supposed prisoners of war so long ago.

The soldier who'd been begging him to brace himself proceeded in the annoying track of demanding if he were alright. He couldn't seem to change his volume, either, so Quatre decided to tune him out.

Jinli nearly fell on top of Quatre as they came to the first hallway, looking around.

"Leave your helmet on," Quatre ordered as they started walking toward the area the others should be at. "We have no idea what damage was done yet."

"Obsidian slammed the colony," Heero informed them, moving from the dock he'd been in, obviously pissed. "They just _rammed_ the damn structure!"

Quatre rolled his eyes as Wufei appeared with a laptop.

"Fei?" Jinli muttered.

"You alright, dumbass?" Wufei demanded, falling in with his friend. "What sort of stunt was that?"

"The bay doors were closing," Jinli shot back. "The only machine we could afford damage to was Lame."

"I feel loved," Quatre informed them.

They grinned at him.

"So the emergency sealants have been deployed around the hole," Wufei moved on, still all business. "I don't think the hole was enough to destabilize the colony's frame, but just in case we all need to keep our helmets at least on. We can open them if you really hate the damn things," he hit the button, looking around as the mask part of his opened.

"He's the only one really bothered by it," Quatre informed Jinli, hitting the button for his own. "Him and Duo, anyway."

"Since you're obviously staying with it?" Wufei shot back as Trowa moved to join them, looking around.

"We left them on the transport," Heero supplied.

Trowa nodded.

"You okay?" Duo muttered, moving into their group as well.

"I'm fine," Quatre agreed, looking around. "Where did they hit?"

"The old port," Duo returned wryly. "The same way we got in when we weren't wanted."

"Awesome," Quatre shook his head, starting inward.

The alarm lights flashed from red to yellow, their rotating slowing a bit.

"The sealant was successful, evidently," Wufei noted. "At least, the colony's sensors don't feel a leak."

Quatre pulled his helmet off, but let it hang. He'd never hear the end of it if he took the damn thing off, so he had to arrange it as not to be choked by the weight.

"So what do we do now?" Jinli asked nervously.

"Now we find the soldiers on this boat and go secure the old port," Duo retorted. "What basically just happened was an attempted suicide, failed. I think Gerrange has lost his support for anything, and is trying to hold onto the strands of what he almost had with an iron first."

"That's the impression I got," Quatre agreed.

"Sir!" a soldier appeared in front of them, stopping to salute them all properly. "The main contingent is waiting just this way."

"Right," Quatre agreed, turning to follow him. "I want two teams to sweep the area around the old port. Set men to watching every known exit, including the ventilation systems. We need a perimeter and for a port to be opened for the ESA transports that should be here in ten minutes."

"Right," the man turned, running ahead to give orders.

"Get me a laptop," Quatre ordered the next soldier they encountered. "Get one for Yuy and Chang, too."

"Sir!" that man scampered.

"Set up the medic site," Duo ordered to another soldier, reaching over briefly to grab Quatre's hand before he started off with that little unit.

"So...what now?" Jinli muttered.

"Now we wait for someone to tell us what to do," Trowa reassured him in amusement. "Or, if you can think of something that needs done, that'll work too."

Jinli smiled at him.

"It's just one of those things," Quatre noted, then slowed as they neared the old port.

There wasn't a proper _wall_ there anymore. There was part of Obsidian.

"We need units to sweep this area _now!_" Quatre shouted, stepping back toward the soldiers who were following them. "Find _any_..."

Quatre's words cut off as an elbow snaked around his throat, pulling him back...into Marshal Gerrange himself.

"_Shit!_" Heero snarled, nearly stepping forward until he _saw_ the weapon pointed at Quatre's head.

They all froze, staring at the man in disbelief.

"You've thwarted me for the last time, _Blondie_," Gerrange growled into Quatre's ear. "We're taking this colony and all you ESA sons of bitches are _leaving_ it...or you won't like what I do."

Quatre's eyes flashed as he met eyes around.

Heero and the rest fell back, obviously thinking fast. This was usually the point, Trowa surmised, where Quatre would tell them what to do.

"Gerrange," Wufei said seriously, "there's no way you've offloaded your full crew, and we have more men on this colony than that. We can hold your entrance."

"We'll kill any soldier we see," Gerrange returned levelly, looking them all over. His eyes fell on Jinli, and he frowned as he looked around again. "Where is J?"

"Jaden stayed back to disperse your dolls," Wufei supplied quietly.

"And Qingfu?" the man asked, looking almost desperately to that man.

"No, Qingfu is in command on Illicit."

The man nodded, looking away briefly, then pressed his gun harder into Quatre's temple.

"You need to let him go," Heero offered in a level voice, obviously hesitant to move any further away. "You know our training, Gerrange. If you persist..."

"Shut-up, Yuy," Gerrange spat at him, then turned and gestured. "Form up or line! Bring out the men!"

One of the soldiers behind the man hesitated a brief moment, then turned and started making the gestures.

"Gerrange," Heero said quietly, "come on now, don't be a fool...this will never work."

"I will _kill_ him!" Gerrange half-shrieked. He didn't have much in the way of control over himself, and his soldiers all hesitated, turning to look at him. "This _bitch_..."

Heero started to protest the continued prodding of Quatre, but Quatre didn't have the best control over his temper. As the muzzle of the weapon slammed in again—Duo was half launching for them—he dropped...and _moved_.

Gerrange's expression turned to outrage as he followed those motions, then moved forward again. Quatre's head snapped back at the punch, but that left him to his own.

Heero, Wufei, and Trowa were shouting for the pair to stop fighting while Duo lunged forward and got tangled with Trowa. Gerrange's soldiers were crying out in alarm and outrage, but obviously hesitant to act in the face of the enemy.

The ESA soldiers, meanwhile, were shouting and taking aim, though there was no way any of them could shoot without endangering Quatre.

Jinli stepped forward, then stopped...

And the motion abruptly ceased.

Quatre's chest was heaving as he pulled away, watching...as Gerrange slowly fell to the ground.

Silence fell over the area.

Duo broke free of Trowa, who was staring and didn't seem to care anymore, and darted forward to slide on his knees to Gerrange's side. He checked for a pulse instantly, then leaned forward to listen or a heartbeat...then started shouting for a medic.

. . .but Jinli knew the man was dead. There was no life left in that body.

Gerrange's soldiers stared in horror, then looked up and around...and their weapons started hitting the ground.

Jinli watched as a white-faced young boy darted back for the ship, but he could tell what _that_ was, too. He was telling them that Gerrange was dead.

Their revolution was over, and they'd managed to get themselves in way over their heads.

Quatre wiped blood from his face, his eyes locked onto the body, then focused on his hand. He stared at the blood a long moment, then turned his focus around to look at Heero, then Wufei. Finally, he met eyes with Trowa.

Wufei darted around to his friend, pulling him in for a hug that somehow ended with Quatre's head resting on Wufei's chest. Quatre was looking to the ground, and the noise around them was gradually growing louder.

Marshal Gerrange had been killed by Brigadier General Quatre Winner. The medics would try to revive the body, but Jinli had a feeling that was just lip-service.

. . .so what did they do now?


	9. Nine

**Epilogue**

Heero sighed as he moved from the hallway into the meeting room, focusing on Quatre's brown head instantly. Quatre had spent the night in the hospital while they made sure his actions had been in self-defense—though no one, even Gerrange's men, had claimed otherwise. Not only that, though, but he'd messed up an arm muscle and the psychologist had been summoned _damned_ fast.

Quatre looked up, smiling as he saw Heero, then past him.

"Quatre!" Matty proclaimed excitedly, darting forward to hug the brunette.

"Hey," Quatre muttered. "How are you? You okay?"

"I'm not the one who got hurt," Matty retorted.

"No, but you're more apt than me to be upset," Quatre grinned at him.

Matty considered him a moment, sitting down in the chair next to him.

"I'm fine," Quatre offered under his breath. "I'll be fine."

"Quatre!" Blake's cry was just as happy as Matty's had been, and that young man darted down and around Heero to hug the other man.

"Well, Brigadier," Quatre muttered, meeting Heero's eyes.

"Brigadier," Heero retorted, rolling his eyes.

"I figured we should use it a few times more," Quatre supplied, smiling at him. "Before the upgrades take effect. Do you suppose Une is happy? She gave us a month and we took a week and a half."

"And how much of that was us refusing to take the offensive?" Heero shot back. "We could have ended this before it started."

"Not fully," Quatre returned, waving that away. "Where is everyone?"

"Waking up slowly," Heero returned. "I know I've been up for an hour or two...it's kind of...empty...now that all we have to deal with is the legal end."

"I wonder if I still have a job," Blake muttered, tiling his head thoughtfully.

"You're moving in with us anyway," Heero noted as Quatre made a gesture to brush the words away.

"My dad will _love_ that," Blake noted happily.

"He's fine with me as Max Tsuyo," Heero shot back. "I'm no one special as Max."

"Don't bother," Quatre noted dryly. "I'm gonna do the full-on military thing—especially if they decide not to make me a general. I'll earn it the long way if I have to."

"Why?" Heero asked blankly. "Why do you want to do that?"

Quatre shrugged. "It's all I have that's not my family name. I'll be damned if I don't do it right."

"You have more than that," Matty chided.

Quatre smiled at him.

"I need coffee," Duo informed them all seriously as he moved to join them. He stopped, leaning over to kiss Quatre and study his face, then turned to start for the machine.

"What..._do_ we do now?" Matty asked, looking around.

"Go home," Heero returned. "We go home and reassess what we're doing with our lives. I assume you'll go back to school...and I may or may not keep working."

"I figured I'd run the whole espousal thing by Blake again," Trowa noted as he moved into the room. "But I think that's more that it's my first serious relationship in ages, and I have the maturity to pull off a rank tag."

Blake turned to look at him thoughtfully.

"I'm getting divorced," Wufei noted seriously. "Jinli is a _horrible_ husband."

Jinli snickered as he followed.

"Okay there, blue-eyes?" Wufei hazarded. "You get to play doctor at the hospital?"

Quatre snickered, giving him a look.

"No?" Wufei glanced at Duo, who was giving him a look. "Oh, you don't want to say. Alright."

Matty snickered.

Duo flashed him a grin, going back to what he was doing.

"So what are we eating?" Jinli muttered.

"Can't you just get it annulled?" Trowa asked curiously. "Or _did_ you consummate? Is that why you didn't come out of your room last night?"

Jinli and Wufei _both_ gave Trowa patronizing looks, moving toward the counters.

"Well, what's the verdict?" Duo muttered, moving to drop next to his lover again.

"Self-defense," Quatre shrugged. "I'm not off my rocker, either."

"Ooh, yay," Duo bounced. "That means we go home."

Quatre smiled at him, then thought about something. Matty's expression went confused, too. They met eyes, then turned to focus on the door.

Jaden appeared, Qingfu a step behind. Both had sort of blank faces as they stopped, then started slowly forward.

Quatre rose to his feet.

"Hey, you're okay," Jaden muttered with something like false cheer.

Actually, considering the bruising across Quatre's face, and the swelling, Jaden was probably just making conversation.

"I'm sorry," Quatre said instantly, moving forward. "I know he was your friend."

Jaden stared at him.

"I didn't mean for it to happen," Quatre went on instantly. "I...I'm sorry."

"You did, what you had to do," Jaden said, his voice sounding tight as he looked away. "And he...wasn't really my friend...anymore."

Quatre rested his hand on the man's shoulder, studying his face a long moment. Instead of moving away, though, he moved around the man and pulled Qingfu into a hug.

"Oh, you're back," Lu muttered, moving in to hug Quatre as well. "Are you guys okay?" she added to the others.

"We're...having a wake tonight," Qingfu told her, not looking at her. "You should come. You were his friend...before."

Lu sighed, then nodded. "Of course I'll come."

"I decided...to wear a white top," Qingfu met her eyes, studying them.

"I'll see what I have," she agreed, grabbing his hand briefly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm a little preoccupied," he admitted with a smile. "The closure...I..."

Quatre looked away briefly, then turned back for the main table. "So...what should we eat?"

* * *

The evening was mellow as Lucretzia moved through their quarters in a pair of wide-legged black trousers. She had a white top on over that, and a red oriental-style coat on top. She stopped near them, smiling slightly as she looked them all over, then turned with a package of something in her hands.

"It's weird to think that I'm not going," Zechs noted as he sat down with the rest of them, meeting eyes.

"But you weren't his friend in any way," Heero noted with a grin.

"So," Jinli added, signing something. He slid the folder over to Wufei. "You're a horrible husband and I never want to marry you again."

Wufei laughed, flipping the thing open to read down the list. "At least until the next huge ordeal that pulls us out of our mundane life and into the line of fire," he signed.

"Well, okay," Jinli agreed hesitantly. "Maybe."

Zechs grinned at them. "You two are stupid. Marriage is supposed to _last_."

"Thank god we're only espoused, then," Wufei shot back, shoving the thing toward the man. "Witness."

Zechs sighed, grabbing up the pen.

"If you were serious about the espousal thing," Blake noted seriously to Trowa, "we need to do it before we get home."

Trowa blinked at him, then shrugged and nodded.

"You understand or we will?" Blake's ire had risen a bit.

"Yes?" Trowa offered, giving him a look.

Matty snickered.

"You still have to pay my taxes," Jin noted, tilting his head. "We were espoused long enough for that—and a year of support."

They all _looked_ at him.

He snickered, showing them a smaller packet of papers, then stopped and look at Wufei.

"I don't want to talk about it," Wufei informed him instantly.

"You _told_ me we would."

"When you were my husband and I wanted you to stop bitching," he took the folder from Zechs and showed him the witness signature. "We're not married now."

Jinli shoved his hand so the packet of papers smacked his face.

"Abuse!" Wufei proclaimed, hopping up off the floor to look at them all. "You saw it! Abuse!"

Jin's amusement, though, had been brief. He settled back where he sat, glowering at the other man.

Wufei sighed, dropping onto the couch, then sliding back to his spot at the little table. "I know I said we would, but now it's here and I don't want to."

"You _promised_," Jinli noted seriously. "You also were about to buy us tickets like, twenty times."

"To shut you up," Wufei shot back.

"That's not the sort of honesty you should practice," Duo muttered dryly.

They all grinned at him.

Wufei sighed again, looking across the room. "Get the names and addresses," he said. "We can figure out a game-plan for it."

"Thank you," Jinli muttered, climbing up from his spot.

"I'm gonna go make some calls," Trowa noted, climbing up himself. "I want to tell Tim, Cathy, and Lifon what's up here."

"I called my dad last night," Matty noted, looking up.

"But Li is my friend," Trowa smiled at him, running a hand through his hair as he started away.

"Matty?" Heero muttered.

"Hm?" Matty looked around to him.

"You wanna go somewhere, just me and you?"

"Like...the room? Or the kitchen?" Matty retorted.

"Eww," Quatre protested, giving him a look.

"No, I mean like Tokyo or Paris," Heero shot back.

Matty's expression changed instantly to interested.

"Let's go on a ro..." Blake started to turn to Trowa, then stopped as he realized the guy wasn't there. "...mantic..."

Quatre grinned at him.

"Let him call," Duo gestured. "He'll take you wherever you wanna go."

Blake smiled almost shyly at him.

"I'm gonna go figure this out with Jin," Wufei sighed, climbing up again. "You guys okay?"

Quatre nodded, moving around to lean into Duo tiredly.

"You sure you're okay?" Heero muttered, pushing himself up.

Quatre nodded again with a sigh. "I just want to be with him. I'll be fine."

"We're gonna go tourist searching," Heero muttered with a smile, heading for the room he and Matty shared.

"I'll go take this down to processing," Zechs noted, grabbing up the divorce papers and looking pointedly to Blake.

"Oh fine," Blake sighed, then grinned at Quatre. "I'll go curl up with Trowa and debate if I want to be his espoused or not."

"It's a mixed road," Duo agreed in amusement. "You'll have more rank than your dad, but you'll have more threats to your person, too."

"Yeah, so we'll talk," Blake agreed, thinking as he wandered off.

Zechs stopped, looking between Duo and Quatre a moment before smiling at Duo. "I'm glad you found someone—I don't have those qualms about leaving Lu with you anymore."

Duo smiled at him, watching him go.

"We should go in our room," Duo muttered, kissing Quatre's temple. "Come on."

Quatre nodded, and slowly followed the other from the room.

Things had gotten chaotic for a while, and their little comfortable hole of a life had gotten turned upside down. He'd never meant to kill again, but Gerrange hadn't given him that option.

It was like a game of cards, and he'd drawn the wild-card. Everything the game was had been suspended for that one moment...and that had changed it all.

He allowed Duo to pull him into his arms, pressing his face into the other's throat.

At least he hadn't had all his chips on the table...

"Quatre?" Duo muttered quietly.

"Yeah?"

"You wanna go somewhere? Get away from the rest a while and just be me and you?"

"For a little while," Quatre conceded. "Not long, though."

"No...I think we should all go somewhere new and apart...like before, but a lot less hard-core."

Quatre smiled at that.

"I want a puppy."

"_What?_" Quatre demanded, pushing himself up a bit to look at Duo in disbelief.

"I want a puppy," Duo repeated. "Nothing big...or tiny. Just a dog."

Quatre stared at him a long moment, then rolled his eyes and dropped back down. "Whatever."

"You don't care?"

"It will be your dog, that means you clean its messes—and seriously," he added. "We live in an apartment. Is that fair?"

"I can totally knock out a wall on accident with Deathscythe before I put it away. Then we can, you know, have a veranda."

Quatre started laughing weakly, then groaned, pressing his face into Duo's chest...and started to cry.

"We'll be okay," Duo said quietly, holding him tightly. "Come on, sync with me...we'll be okay."

* * *

"And, in conclusion, with the consideration of the council and other military leaders," Une looked everyone over. "I'd like to announce the promotion of the Brigadier Generals Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Chang Wufei, and Trowa Barton."

Quatre turned his head very slightly.

There was a light applause at that.

"As they would prefer," she added, "they will be awarded quietly for their duties," she turned and moved to stand in front of Heero as everyone in the room jumped to their feet. "Major General Heero Yuy, please take this as a token of our appreciation..."

Heero nodded his head as she pinned the second star to his lapel. She smiled briefly at Quatre as she pinned his star on—which was slightly odd since she hadn't announced him...or forgotten him.

She stopped at the end of the line to exchange a salute, which they returned, then to the crowd, which applauded.

"Now," Une turned back to the gathering. "Some of you may have noticed two things. First, I neglected to mention Quatre Winner, and second that he has the second pin like the rest."

They were all watching her.

"The thing is, while I know none of them prefer a large ceremony, a rank change of more than one step should be noted...and it has been decided that...Major General Quatre Winner will be raised to General, Chief of Staff."

The people in the audience started clapping excitedly, turning to whisper to each other.

Quatre smiled very slightly at that, then looked around to Duo. Duo, who'd been clapping with everyone else, paused to step forward and hug the other briefly.

"We are arranging the proper ceremonies," Une added easily, "and will announce the proceedings as soon as we have them solidified. General," she turned to salute him.

"Thank you, Miss Une," Quatre muttered, moving forward to take her hand and kiss her cheek. He stepped back to return her salute, then lowered his voice. "I'm one star away from you, woman. You worried?"

"More eager," she shot back. "Step up, General, share my power."

Quatre grinned at that, turning to salute the crowd again.

* * *

It was strange to move back into the LA airport, watching the people around them. Their flights had been staggering in all day, but since Duo and Quatre's had been the last due, everyone had been content to hang out in their pairs until the meeting time.

"Hey," Duo muttered as Heero moved nearer him and Matty moved in for a hug.

"Hey," Trowa agreed as Blake moved to hug Quatre.

"You alive?" Wufei asked as Jinli...and a handful of Asian men...moved up to join them.

"Collecting ducklings?" Duo asked, giving all the men interested look.

"Oh good lord, Jin," Quatre muttered, staring at them all. "Why in the _world_ did you let him bring them home?"

They started snickering.

"I didn't want to have to potty train a kitty," Wufei noted dryly. "It was either them or a kitten."

"I'll be a good kitten," one muttered, moving up to nearly wind around Quatre. "I'll play with any string..."

That got group groans.

"I think I can deal with that," Duo noted skeptically.

"_Wow_," Heero noted happily, looking them all over. "And I thought _I_ was bad."

"I decided to start a monastery," Wufei informed them all in a chipper voice. "We were all wondering what to do with the extra space in the old apartment, so we can start an Asian statuary club."

"But I'm putting my puppy in there after I make a veranda," Duo protested.

"You're getting a puppy?" Matty breathed, turning to look to him.

"_I_ am picking it," Duo informed him and Blake pointedly. "So don't give me that nonsense."

"Aw!" Matty turned to dart from the secure area.

"Matty!" Lifon squeaked.

"Li!" Matty returned...and disappeared into the crowd.

Heero looked the group over with a happily skeptical expression, then turned to follow his lover.

Wufei shrugged slightly to Trowa, falling into pace with him as Jinli turned to talk to the others. "They asked," Wufei explained. "I mean...they thought I was dead or had forgotten them. We'll camp in the old apartment for a week and then keep in touch afterwards."

"That works," Trowa noted. "But Duo's serious about that stupid puppy."

"I don't care," Wufei shrugged. "I'm not cleaning up after it, but I don't care."

Trowa shook his head, looking around as Colonel Kiardane stepped from the crowd.

"Dad!" Blake shouted, and darted to him.

Trowa watched the group until he spotted Tim, then smirked slightly as he moved forward to exchange a hug, blinking down as a small form wormed her way up between them.

"Hi, Lifon," he muttered, kissing the top of her head. "Did you miss me?"

She smirked up at him, then batted her eyelashes.

"You are so incredibly _special_," Tim noted, moving to exchange a brief hug with Heero. "You know that, right?"

"Of course," Trowa agreed happily. "My imaginary friends teach me bad habits."

**End**

**E/N:** For those of you who were with me at the start of this story, thank you for following through, even with that damned month or two of nothing. I hate writer's block, it depresses me and makes me feel stifled. I hate writer's block even more when I've been doing a serious sort of arc like Chance or Circumstance. It breaks up the flow and makes things more staccato than I prefer. I'm not sure if that is actually in evidence here or not, though, so if you notice it-blame the writer's block. Initially, I'd planned CoC to be...5 stories long, at the most? But things kept cropping up and skewing the time-line, and I wasn't able to correct that like I should have, so overall there are a few bits and pieces here that bug me. As a set, though, I think CoC is sort of fun. I hope you all enjoyed the highs and weren't brought down by the lows. Look ahead and not behind, huh? Tomorrow's a new day, waiting for a new start. -Kye


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